NDLEA rallies Edo communities to confront drug menace

After becoming addicted to illicit drugs, Abraham, a young man from a religious family in Benin, spent 10 years living on the streets, cut off from his loved ones and the comfort of home.

His descent into substance abuse began in childhood when someone who was supposed to be his spiritual mentor introduced him to cannabis.

He later combined it with opioids before becoming dependent on pentazocine, an injectable drug.

Currently in recovery, Abraham has spent the past three years rebuilding his life with help from the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and other partners.

The story, narrated by the Director of Media and Advocacy of NDLEA, Mr Femi Babafemi, at a recent stakeholders’ engagement in Benin, captures the devastating consequences of drug abuse and the need for an approach that goes beyond arrests and seizures.

It also reflects the central challenge confronting Edo, where drug use, trafficking and their consequences are increasingly threatening young people, families and communities.

The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, retired Brig.-Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa, who led the engagement, said drug-use prevalence in Edo was about 15 per cent among people aged 15 to 64. This means one in seven persons in Edo abuses drug.

Although lower than Lagos’ 33 per cent, Marwa described the figure as unacceptable, particularly as Edo serves as a cannabis-producing, consuming and transit state.

He disclosed that the Edo Command arrested more than 1,200 suspects and seized over 30 tonnes of illicit substances in 2025 alone.

The scale of the challenge was also acknowledged by the NDLEA Commandant in the state, Dr Mitchell Ofoyeju, who said the menace remained a threat to the state’s youth, families and collective future.

Ofoyeju said the engagement was designed to review existing efforts, identify gaps and strengthen intelligence sharing and community collaboration for prevention, enforcement and rehabilitation.

He acknowledged the support of the Edo Government, traditional rulers, the judiciary, sister security agencies and community-based organisations, but stressed that more work was needed.

For Edesili Okpebholo-Anani, the Coordinator of the Office of the Wife of the Edo Governor and Chairperson of the Edo State Drug Control Committee, the consequences were already visible in families and communities.

She expressed concern that drug abuse was increasingly affecting children, women and communities, citing a case of a young girl allegedly murdered by her boyfriend while under the influence of drugs.

Okpebholo-Anani also highlighted the economic burden on families, noting that substance dependence could drain household resources and undermine productivity.

These concerns reinforced Marwa’s argument that the problem required a coordinated response involving government, families, traditional institutions, religious bodies, security agencies, schools, the media and civil society.

“We cannot do it alone. It is a whole-of-society approach. All the stakeholders must join hands, work together, collaborate and defeat this criminality,” he said.

One of the agency’s major strategies, meanwhile, is to prevent drug use before it develops into dependence.

Malam Abubakar Garba, NDLEA Director of Prevention and Sensitisation, described prevention as everybody’s responsibility, not that of the agency alone.

He said drug abuse destroys individuals, families and the future, urging religious leaders, traditional rulers, youth leaders and heads of households to use their influence to discourage substance abuse.

Garba cited relevant teachings from the Quran and Bible to reinforce the message, stressing that faith-based institutions had an important role in changing attitudes and behaviour.

He also highlighted the agency’s War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) initiative, which empowers stakeholders to take prevention messages into their communities.

Marwa’s response complemented this approach. He urged parents to provide good examples, monitor behavioural changes in their children and seek early intervention when they notice warning signs.

He also called on schools to establish drug-free clubs and counselling units, while encouraging students to report attempts by others to introduce them to illicit substances.

The chairman further urged the media to avoid glorifying drug use through the promotion of entertainers and public figures associated with substance abuse.

For community-based organisations, he called for stronger vigilance and prompt reporting of suspicious activities.

Babafemi also urged civil society organisations to help remove the stigma associated with substance use disorders.

“Help us remove stigma because shame kills more quietly than even the drugs,” he said.

He disclosed that the NDLEA operated a 24-hour toll-free helpline, 0800 10 20 30 40, staffed by clinical psychologists, psychotherapists and psychiatric doctors to provide guidance and referrals.

Beyond prevention, the agency says it is strengthening treatment and rehabilitation for people already affected by substance dependence.

The NDLEA Director of Counselling, Treatment and Rehabilitation, Mr Ibrahim Bashir, said drug dependence should be treated as a health issue rather than a moral failure.

He explained that the agency’s balanced approach covers prevention, sensitisation, counselling, treatment, rehabilitation, reintegration and skills acquisition.

He also urged individuals and organisations to refer people struggling with substance use to appropriate treatment facilities instead of stigmatising or abandoning them.

Bashir noted that relapse could form part of the recovery process, making continued support and follow-up important.

Marwa said the agency had 31 rehabilitation centres across the country, including one in Edo, and appealed to the state government to provide another facility to expand access to treatment.

The appeal responds to the wider concern that enforcement alone cannot address the problem if people who need help lack access to rehabilitation and reintegration support.

Another concern raised at the engagement was how to address cannabis cultivation without worsening the economic vulnerability of farmers.

Okpebholo-Anani said destroying illicit farms without providing alternative livelihoods could leave farmers without income, particularly those whose livelihood depended on cultivation.

She recalled encountering an elderly cannabis farmer whose farm had been destroyed, questioning what support was available to him after the enforcement operation.

The coordinator said the state was interested in replicating an alternative development and sustainable livelihood programme piloted in Ondo State.

She said Edo had written to the NDLEA and received a response that a team would visit to train the state on the initiative.

Marwa said the agency was engaging cannabis farmers to embrace lawful crops such as rice, cassava, beans and cocoa, with support to make the transition sustainable.

The approach recognises that disrupting illicit cultivation must be accompanied by viable economic alternatives if communities are to abandon the trade.

Marwa also underscored the importance of traditional institutions in changing community attitudes and improving local intelligence.

He disclosed that he had visited the Oba of Benin the previous day and appealed to the monarch to use the traditional institution’s platform to campaign against drug abuse and trafficking.

According to him, the Oba accepted the appeal, offering an important avenue for extending prevention messages through traditional leadership structures.

The security implications of drug abuse also featured prominently.

The Commander of the Nigerian Army’s 4 Brigade, Brig.-Gen. Ahmed Balogun, described drug abuse and insecurity as interconnected, saying one often fueled the other.

“Drug abuse and insecurity are twins. There is a nexus between the two. One feeds the other,” he said.

He pledged continued cooperation with the NDLEA, describing the existing relationship between the Army and the agency’s Edo Command as robust.

Marwa also disclosed that the NDLEA was collaborating with the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) to institutionalise drug testing for commercial drivers.

He said some drivers used drugs to stay awake and make more trips, thereby endangering passengers and other road users through impaired judgement and fatigue.

He urged transport unions to discourage the use of drugs and alcohol in motor parks, saying transport workers had pledged cooperation.

The chairman further disclosed that a proposed amendment to the NDLEA Act had passed second reading at the National Assembly.

The bill seeks to introduce prison terms of between 15 and 25 years and remove the option of fines for specified offences.

The proposed changes, however, remain subject to the legislative process.

The engagement underscored that tackling drug abuse in Edo requires more than law enforcement alone.

Drawing from Abraham’s personal journey of lost years and recovery, alongside broader concerns over broken families, insecurity, illicit cultivation, and scarce treatment options, the discussions emphasized a holistic need for prevention, accountability, rehabilitation, and sustainable livelihoods.

As Ofoyeju highlighted, the future of local children and communities hinges on the actions taken today.

Moving forward, observers say the NDLEA must pair ongoing enforcement with deeper partnerships among frontline institutions and community members.

True success, they note, will be measured not merely by arrests made or drugs seized, but by the young people safeguarded, the families supported, and the lives rebuilt.