‘Nigeria Has 15 Million Drug Addicts’ – Buba Marwa

Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee for the Elimination
of Drug Abuse, Buba Marwa has said of Nigeria’s estimated population of
about 180 million, there are 15 million drug addicts.

Marwa, who was former military governor of Lagos State, referred to
the development as alarming.  He said the global average rating of drug
use and abuse is five per cent, noting that “In Nigeria, we are at 15
per cent.”

He made this claim on Wednesday, in Kaduna, in the company of members
of his committee, when he addressed officers and men of Katsina Command
of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

“We have an emergency situation before us regarding the issue of
drugs abuse in Nigeria,” he said, adding that the Nigerian government
decided to raise the committee to proffer recommendations and steps to
be taken to resolve the issue of drug abuse in the country,

Marwa had earlier visited the Katsina Government House, where he told
Governor Aminu Bello Masari that the committee commenced work last
December.

“We started our work since December and finished the plenary and now we are visiting states across the country.

“On the whole, we are facing the supply side of drugs, in terms of
cutting the supply because you must have drugs first before the use.
Government agencies involved need to be strengthened to be able to carry
out their functions effectively, and the demand side appears to be more
difficult to handle.

“We also need to take the preventive measures to ensure that those
who do not take the drugs remain so. We have to interface with esteemed
leaders across the country. We feel that there ought to be committees on
drug abuse, right from the federal to the local governments and across
the communities.

“We do not know that the causes of drug abuse include, but it’s not
limited to poverty, joblessness and idleness which translate to looking
for jobs. Rehabilitation and counselling centres are few. We will
interface with religious organisations and traditional leaders and also
examine the Almajiri situation and embellish with western education. The
Almajiris, in the course of their training, do other things that are
not good for them.”