By Philip Nwosu
The Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Rtd), has revealed that the agency seized over 200 million pills of Tramadol and arrested 95 drug barons in the past year as part of its intensified war against drug trafficking and abuse in Nigeria.
Speaking during the 7th Public Lecture of the Board of Fellows of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Marwa said the NDLEA also arrested 66,000 drug traffickers and peddlers, impounded over 11 million kilograms of hard drugs, and secured 12,000 convictions within the same period.
Marwa linked the rise in drug abuse to growing mental health challenges in the country, stressing the urgent need for a holistic approach. “We are acutely aware of how substance abuse and mental health are intertwined,” he said. “Every day, we see lives shattered due to trauma, depression, anxiety, and social isolation, which often drive people to drugs.”
He shared a personal anecdote from his time as Nigeria’s defence adviser to the United Nations, recounting a 1994 incident in Yugoslavia where a mentally disturbed Nigerian officer on a peacekeeping mission killed a colleague—highlighting the dangers of unaddressed mental illness.
Marwa described the cost of drug abuse as both personal and societal, citing increasing cases of violence and theft among young addicts. “Behind every drug user is a family in distress and a society bearing the cost of lost productivity, rising healthcare expenses, and social instability,” he said.
He praised the PSN for its efforts in sanitising the pharmaceutical sector, particularly through the enactment of the Pharmacists Council Act of 2023, which strengthened regulations against prescription drug misuse.
However, Marwa raised concerns about the unchecked proliferation of illegal patent medicine stores across the country. “While 60,000 stores are properly licensed, over one million operate illegally—many of them selling controlled substances like Tramadol without prescriptions,” he stated.
Marwa revealed that a 40-foot container of Tramadol is worth N80 billion on the black market, emphasising the massive scale and profitability of the illicit trade. He disclosed that an informant once tipped him off about an attempt to smuggle 50 containers into the country.
To address the crisis, the NDLEA has intensified public advocacy efforts, conducting over 11,000 sensitisation campaigns in schools, motor parks, markets, and communities nationwide. The agency has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with India’s Narcotics Control Bureau, targeting the major source of illegal Tramadol shipments to Nigeria.
He concluded by calling pharmacists “strategic partners” in Nigeria’s drug war and promised to consider greater inclusion of pharmacists in NDLEA operations.
“We must keep working together to strengthen prescription regulations and promote responsible medication use,” he said. “Your profession sits at the critical intersection of public health and drug control.”
Earlier, the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, spoke on mental health, lamenting the prevalence of mental health disorders in the country. He explained that Nigeria needs mentally sound citizens who can contribute meaningfully to national development.
“A community with a high prevalence of mental health disorders is not only destabilised but also lacks progress. It is, therefore, important that we take collective responsibility to ensure that our communities are mentally healthy. Socio-economic development is deeply tied to mental health,” he said.
“The World Health Organisation rightly asserts that there is no health without mental health. A nation with a high burden of mental health disorders will undoubtedly suffer a decline in productivity, a decrease in quality of life, and a strain on health resources.
“In the legislative assembly and personally, we have prioritised the issue of mental health, which is why we initiated the Lagos State Mental Health Law of 2018, which provides for the protection and care of individuals with mental health conditions and substance use disorders.”