National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has said drug trafficking is becoming more sophisticated on daily basis with the cultivation of Indian hemp gradually spreading to the northern part of the country.

Head, Public Affairs of the agency Ofoyeju Mitchell stated this while speaking at a media roundtable in Abuja organised by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Ofoyeju said cannabis which is cultivated more in the South is gradually spreading to other parts of the country just as the agency has discovered the abuse of unconventional drugs particularly in the northern part of the country. He also said the growing concern over how organised crime undermine stability and prosperity in Africa and the way it is facilitated by a wide range of people places a demand on the reporter to be accurate, analytical and fearless noting there is need to carry out research on how drug cartels and organised criminal groups work.

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WEST Africa must openly confront its political and governance weaknesses to curb the growing drug trade in the region, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo said on Wednesday.

"West Africa is no longer only a transit zone of drugs but an attractive destination where pushers take advantage of the weak political system to perpetuate their trade," Obasanjo, who chairs the West Africa Commission on Drugs (WACD), said while presenting his report to Ghana's President John Mahama.

"We believe that we should confront openly the political and governance weaknesses which the traffickers exploit," Obasanjo said.

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Kebbi state has been identified as a drug cartel in recent times as notorious drug barons have found it a haven for their illicit trade. YAHYA SARKI writes on the efforts of the NDLEA and Voluntary Youth Groups to curb the menace.

Recently, the 2013 International Day against Drug Abuse and Drug Trafficking was held with the theme, "New Psychoactive Substance: Make Health Your 'New High' in Life, not drugs". This day was set aside by the United Nations General Assembly in its resolution 42/112 of 7th December, 1987 in honour of one Lin Zexu who dismantled the opium trade in Guangdong just before the first opium war in China. The purpose of this day which was established in 1987 is to create a society free of illegal drug use and trafficking. The use of illicit drugs and trafficking has continued to pose great health danger to humanity in terms of safety and wellbeing, especially the young people.

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NDLEA figures: Lagos, Kano, 278 suspects/1200kg of hemp; Oyo, 207 suspects/2,631kg of hemp; Zamfara, 322 suspects, Osun, 219 suspects/85 hectares of hemp farms/6,022kg of hemp; Enugu, 70 suspects/595kg of hemp

APART from those ubiquitous white painkiller tablets, Indian hemp is gradually emerging as the most abused drug in Nigeria. Anyone who doubts this only needs to stroll into any of the motor parks, liquor joints, abandoned buildings (public and private), mechanic workshops, major bus stops and spots where railway lines pass through markets or parks in Nigeria's major towns, to mention just a few.

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TO mark this year's International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has warned secondary school students across the country against indulging in illicit drug consumption.

The agency warned Nigerian children and youths to desist from all appearances of drugs.

In Lagos, the government in conjunction with NDLEA organized a seminar for the students tagged: "Make health your 'new high' in life not drugs" at the Immaculate Heart Secondary School, Maryland. The event was attended by many secondary schools in Lagos.

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THE National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the weekend lamented the inability of Nigeria's Foreign Affairs Ministry to comply with the provisions of Section 45 of its Act, a development, which it said has resulted in non-accurate statistics of Nigerians in jail abroad for drug related offences.

Section 45 of the NDLEA Act mandates all Heads of Nigerian Diplomatic Missions abroad to furnish NDLEA with the statistics of Nigerians in jail abroad for drug related offences every six months.

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Both the dangers of smoking cannabis and its potential health benefits have been a source of controversy for many years. The latest study on the drug suggested that heavy and prolonged cannabis smoking as a young person can result in a permanently lower IQ, reports Sade Oguntola.

Persistent use of marijuana when the brain is undergoing critical development may have toxic effects on brain cells. Of particular worry is the permanence of these effects among people who began smoking marijuana in adolescence. Even after these subjects stopped using marijuana for a year, its adverse effects persisted.

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When the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, in Bauchi State, started its fight against crime, it discovered that 75 percent of youths in the state were under the influence of drugs.

This explains why criminal activities are increasing everyday in the State. Apart from youths who get involved in drug abuse, others engage in the sale of hard drugs because it is seen as a lucrative business and a ready source of income. Some of these drug merchants are highly placed persons in the society. The Agency collaborated with all the security agencies in the State in the investigation, arrest and prosecution of suspects in courts.

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The Chairman, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Ahmadu Giade, has called for the implementation of fifteen years minimum sentence for drug culprits in line the NDLEA Act. The NDLEA boss who supervised the public destruction of drug exhibits worth 9.2 billion naira at the Agency's office complex Badagry, Lagos on Friday May 6, 2011 said that stiffer punishment will help to address the drug problem in our society.

Giade noted that the Agency had recorded a giant stride towards a drug and crime-free society with the destruction of 7,970.8182kg of seized and forfeited narcotics in Lagos State. The Event was witnessed by both local and international stakeholders including the Commanding Officers of the Nigeria Army at Badagry, United States Drug Enforcement Administration, the South Africa Police attache in Lagos and other heads of security Agencies.

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- - At youth group's school event

At a time when drug abuse is ravaging Nigerian youths, a non-governmental organisation, Prince Decson Save Child Foundation, is pressing on with what could pass for palliative measures. The group is using seminars, workshops and education to keep youths out of drugs and other social vices.

Recently, Prince Decson Save Child Foundation engaged students at Topfield College, Awodi-Ora, Ajegunle, Lagos, in a progamme aimed at educating on the evil of hard drugs. Tagged, "the effect of dangerous drugs on the Nigerian child," the programme, according to the group, aimed at "building a lasting and strong awareness, in the minds of youths, on the effect of drug abuse."

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National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has attributed the current wave of violent crimes in the South-east and other neighbouring states to the consumption of Indian hemp and other dangerous drugs by secondary school students, a situation it warned would deteriorate if urgent steps were not taken.

The anti-drug law agency noted that while it was grappling with curtailing the influx and intake of Indian hemp by school children, several of them have recently been caught with cocaine.

Speaking on behalf the agency at weekend during the third annual symposium of the Inwelle Study and Resource Centre, Enugu, Mr. Fintan Bassey said a survey carried out by the NDLEA showed that crimes committed by students recently in Enugu were drug motivated.

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Lagos State, like many others across the country has its own share of social deviants, who indulge in all sort of youthful recklessness. From Oshodi to Oyingbo, Iyana-Ipaja to Lekki, Ojota to Ikorodu and Mile 2 to Badagry, it is common to see youths whose past time is drug abuse. When they are not smoking their lives away with cannabis or other hard drugs, they are reveling in hard drinks, including the local stuff known as paraga.

Worried by this ugly development, particularly with its dire consequences on the future of those involved, Inside Ajeromi, community newspaper, penultimate Sunday began a campaign to sensitise the youths in the state about the danger of drug abuse and the need to keep off the habit.

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The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency on Saturday raised the alarm over the threat to Nigeria's sovereignty by the activities of drug barons.

The Agency warned that drug barons could infiltrate the highest levels of government and stall the drug war if their activities were left unchecked.

The Chairman and Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Alhaji Ahmadu Giade stated this in an address he presented to commemorate the 2010 International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Drug trafficking, in Abuja.

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The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has impounded drugs worth over N100million in Kano within the last 3 weeks, and hounded into custody 17 suspected peddlers.

The Commandant of the Anti Drug Agency, Nicolas Walter told Journalists in Kano that the drugs identified as cannabis were seized from suspected drug peddlers in two separate operations, pointing out that it weighed over 4tonnes.

Nicolas Walter who described the seizure as 'unprecedented' in the state came on the heel of growing statistics that shot the state ahead of others in terms of operations, convictions and rehabilitations of peddlers.

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Port Harcourt -- No fewer than 86 drug barons and traffickers of cocaine, heroin and Indian hemp in Rivers State have been convicted and sentenced to prison terms while many other suspects of drug-related offences are currently standing trial at the Federal High Court in the state.

On the whole, 266 suspects were arrested for drug trafficking between June 2008 and 2009, following which 2, 766 kgs. of hard drugs, out of which 620.9 grams was cocaine, 140.4 heroin and 2,763.4 kilograms was cannabis sativa, (Indian hemp).

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The unprecedented flourishing of the business of drug trafficking and peddling in Nigeria has been blamed on the undue cooperation and support allegedly given to drug barons by some unscrupulous police officers in the country.

According to a Psychiatrist, Dr Olafemwa Popoola, this was one of the factors militating against drug war in the country.

Popoola, stated this, during the year 2009 United Nations International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Drug Trafficking, organised by the Ekiti State Chapter of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA)

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Lagos

Action Congress (AC) yesterday called for a probe of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), alleging that its special role is being hampered by lack of internal control and corruption.

In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party noted that "when we called for a probe of the Agency in an earlier statement over the shoddy handling of a huge cocaine import from Brazil and activities of a jail evasion cartel in the Agency, its Spokesman, Mitchel Ofoyeju, said we were ignorant and denied any role by NDLEA or its staff in the prison evasion scandal.

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Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) were reportedly attacked by suspected drug barons in Abbi town, Ukwuani Local Government Area of Delta State during an official assignment.

The attack, which occurred in the early hours of Thursday May 21, 2009 as contained in a signed document made available to LEADERSHIP yesterday, left two of the officers dead while three others who sustained varying degree of bullet wounds were hospitalised.

Four of the officers that were abducted have also been released.

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There are fresh indications that the authorities of the Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency may have shielded the members of a powerful jail-evasion cartel in the agency from punishment, contrary to the recommendations of the Justice Gilbert Obayan (rtd) National Committee for Reform of the NDLEA.

Rather than retire the original 71 officials of the agency indicted by the committee, investigations by Saturday Punch showed that only nine had been retired while the NDLEA sacrificed the career of 62 other innocent officers to make up the number, thereby shielding members of the cartel.

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Indication emerged at the weekend, that President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua's anti-drug crusade may have started yielding dividends, as the United Nations (UN) Office on Drugs Control (UNODC) adjudged Nigeria as the best country in drug control and enforcement in West Africa.

A statement by the UN Information Centre (UNIC) in Lagos, said the rating was based on the latest assessment report of the organisation.

The statement which did not, however, contain statistics of the Nigeria's efforts on drug control, said the report reflected the measures put in place to curtail the menace of hard drug by the Federal Government.

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