The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.) has stressed the importance of an alternative development strategy to curtail illicit drug production, trafficking and protect the environment from exploitation by drug cartels.
Marwa stated this while highlighting the need for concerted and collaborative efforts in curbing illicit drug trafficking at an NDLEA Special Purpose Committee meeting on alternative development projects in Nigeria, held at the national headquarters of the agency in Abuja, on Thursday.
The same position was canvassed by other experts from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime office in Vienna, Austria, and Nigeria as well as other stakeholders across the country who spoke at the meeting.
A statement by the agency’s Director of Media and Publicity, Femi Babafemi, on Friday, read in part, “Without doubt, illicit drug cultivation and production have contributed significantly, not only in threatening the national and global security but also in modifying the natural ecosystem with severe consequences evidenced in environmental degradation which has impacted negatively on the climate and human health”
The NDLEA boss, who was represented by his Special Adviser on National Drug Control Master Plan, Otunba Lanre Ipinmisho, added, “In our efforts to provide people-centered sustainable and legitimate alternatives to illicit drugs, we will set up structures to provide education to the people on the dangers that illicit drug cultivation and production pose to security and the environment. Also, as part of our crop substitution programme, we will develop strategies to attract investments into alternative development projects through a public-private partnership, particularly in the agricultural sector.”
He also stressed the importance of community buy-in as a key element for a successful programme.
In his remark, the UNODC’s consultant on the Alternative/Sustainable Livelihoods Team in Vienna, Austria, Dr Jorrit Kamminga, commended the NDLEA as one of the pioneer anti-narcotics agencies including alternative development in their initiatives to fight illicit drug trafficking.
He said, “I think Nigeria can effectively play a leading role in Africa when it comes to showing how alternative development and similar alternative livelihood initiatives can help to deal with illicit cannabis cultivation as well as with other challenges of the world drug problem.”
