Tackling drug menace with new responses

As part of activities to commemorate the 2026 World Drug Day, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) recently mapped out some programmes to highlight the dangers of illicit drugs. This was disclosed some days ago during a joint press briefing by the NDLEA and the UNODC at the agency’s headquarters in Abuja.

Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brig-Gen. Mohammed Buba Marwa (retd), who spoke at the event, said that the World Drug Day, usually observed globally on June 26 annually, is a “vital occasion during which our collective efforts against the illicit drug menace are evaluated, refined and given a definitive policy direction for the subsequent 12 months.”

He noted that the theme of the 2026 World Drug Day, “The World Drug Problem: Persisting Issues, New Challenges and Innovative Responses,” underscores the evolving dynamic of the global drug landscape. “It acknowledges that while old battlegrounds remain, new synthetic threats, sophisticated trafficking networks and digital illicit markets have emerged demanding that we counter them with proactive, technology-driven, and highly innovative responses,” Marwa stated.

Earlier, the UNODC had warned that Nigeria had reached a critical juncture in its fight against illicit drugs and enjoined it to confront the menace with innovative and futuristic responses. The UNODC Country Representative, Cheikh Toure, stated that “Nigeria stands at a critical point where it must address long-standing challenges while adapting to new realities.”

“The problem persists, but it is not insurmountable. The challenges are evolving, but so are our solutions, and our response must be united, informed and forward-looking,” Toure stressed.

Some of the programmes targeted to create more awareness on the dangers of illicit drug use and trafficking include Juma’at Service at the National mosque, Abuja, on Friday, Walk Against Drugs, Thanksgiving Church Service at a designated worship centre on Sunday and  Monday’s final level of national essay competition, themed, “Say No to Drug: Building A Healthy and Responsible Generation.” Others include NGO Day at NDLEA Conference Room, the Youth Out of School Programme and the grand Finale.

As we mark the 2026 World Drug Day today, it has become imperative to acknowledge the complexity of the drug menace in Nigeria, where many young people are indulging in the consumption of illicit drugs while many Nigerians are being daily apprehended for one drug offence or the other at the Lagos airports and others.

In May this year, the NDLEA announced the dismantling of what can be regarded as the largest methamphetamine factory by drug syndicate involving some Nigerians and Mexicans in a forest in Ijebu-East Local Government Area of Ogun State, worth N480 billion. Although a huge victory in the war against illicit drug trafficking in the country, the agency also warned that other syndicates exist in forests, warehouses and gated estates across the country. According to the NDLEA, the clinical and simultaneous operation, which was executed by elite operatives of the agency’s Special Operation Unit (SOU), led to the shutdown of an industrial-scale clandestine laboratory, the biggest ever discovered in Nigeria, hidden in a remote forest in Ijebu area of Ogun State.

Apart from hampering the economy, drug money helps to fuel money laundering and terrorism. Therefore, the link between drug trafficking and worsening insecurity in the country cannot be ignored by the federal government and relevant agencies. The recent disclosure by the NDLEA that its operatives have dismantled a methamphetamine laboratory operated by a Nigerian-Mexican cartel in a forest in Tapa Village, Iparapa North Council of Oyo State, is a pointer that the drug traffickers are getting more sophisticated with each passing day. Those apprehended for the crime include a 56-year-old Mexican and four Nigerian collaborators.

While commending the NDLEA for the dismantling of the illicit drug factories, we call for the prosecution of those arrested for the criminality. We believe that drug trafficking will be drastically curbed when those involved in the nefarious trade are tried and convicted. We urge the NDLEA to continue with its strides in confronting the drug traffickers and their barons. However, the public education on the dangers of drug abuse and trafficking must reach all secondary schools, worship centres and communities across the 36 states, Abuja and the 774 local government areas.

The communities should be made to own the anti-narcotics campaign and promote it. Religious leaders should be part of the crusade too. Above all, there is need for attitudinal change and general value reorientation in Nigerians. They should be made to understand that life is beyond the acquisition of material things, especially money. For the good of the society, the current emphasis on money should be reversed in favour of virtues and ethics that ennoble society.