Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN and Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) have expressed hope that the recent amendment of the NDLEA Act by the National Assembly will bolster Nigeria’s drug control efforts when eventually signed by President Bola Tinubu.
They stated this in their remarks during the opening ceremony of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Drug Control meeting in Abuja on Wednesday 28th May 2025.
Delivering the keynote
address, Fagbemi noted the unprecedented efforts and achievements that the anti-narcotics agency has made over the last four years, which include arrests and seizures, convictions, elaborate evidence-based drug demand reduction interventions, using the War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) social advocacy platform to sensitize communities on the dangers of drug abuse.
Consistent gains have been recorded within the global space, by fostering international cooperation and building strong partnerships. NDLEA has sustained the fight with renewed energy and vigour, giving hope to the once hopeless situation”, he said.
The minister further stated that the Federal Ministry of Justice has worked together with the NDLEA to ensure that the national legal system effectively supports the drug control efforts of the agency.
“We are at the last lap of finalizing the amendment of the NDLEA Act, which will significantly enhance the organizational capability of the agency to control the menace of substance abuse and illicit drug trafficking in Nigeria”, Fagbemi said, adding that
the ministry is also providing appropriate support in the area of proceeds of crime management, essential to dismantling the financial networks of drug traffickers.
In his welcome remarks, Marwa averred that the agency has remained undeterred in the pursuit of its goal despite the funding challenges that affected the full implementation of the National Drug Control Master Plan (NDCMP 2021–2025).
“Instead, we stay resolute, drawing strength from our shared vision, commitment, and collective responsibility to overcome this limitation. Encouragingly, certain developments promise to bolster the achievement of our objectives. One such step is the amendment of the NDLEA Act, which is expected to significantly strengthen the agency’s institutional capacity in drug supply reduction. I am pleased to inform this esteemed assembly that the Amended Act has been passed by the National Assembly and is currently awaiting Presidential assent”, he said.
The NDLEA boss, while charging all stakeholders to redouble their efforts, called for a collective resolve to deliver the impact and value needed to confront Nigeria’s evolving and multifaceted drug challenges.
Assessing major programmes implemented across the strategic pillars of the NDCMP in 2023 and 2024, Marwa confirmed that the agency had collectively made commendable progress on the Fourth National Action Plan, in comparison with previous iterations.
He revealed that under the Supply Reduction pillar, the agency’s operational efforts and strategic offensives led to the arrest of 31,334 drug offenders, of whom 6,839 were convicted. They also recorded the seizure of 4,333,636.9 kilograms of assorted illicit drugs and undertook the destruction of 426.46724 hectares of cannabis farms.
“Under the Drug Demand Reduction strategic pillar, we provided counselling and rehabilitation services to 19,033 individuals. By accelerating our WADA sensitisation activities across states, local government areas, wards, and communities, we have been able to intentionally disseminate awareness of the dangers of drug abuse to diverse population groups. This has, in turn, fostered a sense of shared ownership and collective commitment in the national effort to curb substance abuse, trafficking, and proliferation across the country”, he said.
Also speaking at the ceremony, UNODC Country Representative, Cheikh Ousmane Toure, represented by Dr. Akani Ibanga, said Nigeria stands at the crossroads of public health and security sector when it comes to the drug response, adding that “the urgency of the mission that we have today cannot be overstated. Drug use, as we know, is associated with various things from health to safety to productivity to cohesion and, in fact, to how we respond at the level of our community.”
He tasked the gathering to be guided by data, noting that 7.5 percent of the world’s population suffering from drug use disorder are from Nigeria.
“That’s worrisome, and it calls for us to continue in this last leg of implementing the NDCMP to ensure that we are able to follow through with all the commitments that the drug control master plan have laid out for us to do, that we may address these issues that we face”, Ibanga said.
