Nigeria’s government crackdown against illicit drugs is showing signs of progress, with the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) making a string of high-profile arrests across the country. However, questions linger about the NDLEA’s ability to sustain this momentum in the face of determined drug pushers and traffickers.
The recent surge in arrests by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has delivered a clear message: the fight against illegal drugs in Nigeria is a top priority. More than blowing its own trumpet, the NDLEA has dominated the news in recent times, making headlines with its drug-bursting tasks across the country’s nooks and crannies.
Nigerians are applauding the NDLEA’s renewed focus on its mission. But a crucial question remains: does the agency have the resources and capabilities to keep up this surge in arrests and interceptions?.
A few days ago, the operatives of NDLEA said it arrested four pilgrims headed to Hajj in Saudi Arabia with substances suspected to be cocaine.
A statement by the agency spokesperson, Femi Babafemi said the suspects were caught in a hotel while ingesting wraps of cocaine ahead of their flight to the holy land on Wednesday. “The four suspects were lodged in two rooms in a hotel where they had prepared 200 pellets of cocaine weighing 2.20 kilograms to swallow when NDLEA officers stormed their rooms”, Babafemi stated. “One hundred wraps of the Class A substance were recovered from each of the two rooms, bringing the total seizure to 200 wraps. Two suspects were to swallow 100 wraps each”.
‘A small potato’
Experts said the arrest of the four suspects heading to Saudi Arabia was a small potato compared to some of the nationwide interceptions, destructions of drugs, and arrests made by the agency in days after the attention-grabbing arrest found its way to the public.
The agency also said it intercepted no fewer than 175,000 bottles of codeine shipment from India en route to Enugu State barely one week after it seized a similar shipment in Rivers State. Femi Babafemi, the agency director of media and advocacy explained,
“The two seizures followed earlier intelligence, which made the agency request that the shipment be stepped down for 100 percent examination. the latest seizure of 875 cartons of codeine containing 170, 000 bottles and weighing 26,250kg, was made on Friday, June 7, 2024, during a joint examination by the NDLEA, customs service, and other security agencies. The container marked HASU 4787890 from India was en route C to C Bonded Terminal in Enugu”. He also added that operatives of the agency intercepted five different parcels, containing illicit drugs concealed in ladies’ clothes and synthetic hair going to the United States and the United Kingdom.
‘A nationwide crackdown’
“In Ibadan, a 57-year-old man, Oladimeji Samson was arrested with 79 blocks of cannabis sativa weighing 44.4kg and 48 grams of ecstasy, all concealed in the engine compartment under the driver’s seat of the bus”, a statement by the agency confirmed. In Kebbi, a 32-year-old Nigerian, Hassan Mummuni with 4,000 pills of diazepam and 1.250kg cannabis, concealed in four pesticide tanks, was equally arrested in addition to the arrest of Ibrahim Abubakar (aka Alhajiji) in Gombe state with 6,740 pills of tramadol and 20,000 tablets of diazepam. Arrests were also made in Benue, Bauchi, Kogi, and Kaduna as well.
Experts hail the NDLEA’s recent string of arrests as a sign of their unwavering resolve in tackling the drug crisis. They also welcome the Senate’s passage of the death penalty for drug traffickers, calling it a long-overdue measure. However, some other experts caution that the effectiveness of the death penalty in curbing drug trafficking remains to be seen, and emphasize the importance of holistic approach that includes rehabilitation and harm reduction programs.
