Nasarawa ranks second position in drug abuse prevalence

The Nasarawa State commander of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Peter Onche-Odaudu has said the state is currently in second position in drug abuse prevalence rate in the North-Central Geo-Political Zone.

The commander made the disclosure at an event to commemorate the 2023 United Nations International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on Monday in Lafia.

He said that the command would not relent until it change the narrative to positive and make it one of the safest in terms of drugs.

On the achievements of NDLEA, Onche-Odaudu said it has seized 4, 257, 831 kilograms of illicit drugs in the state from June-2022-June-2023.

The commander gave the breakdown to include, 4, 152.755 kg of cannabis sativa, 84.065kg of cough syrup with codeine, 0.698kg of methamphetamine, and 0.017kg of cocaine.

He added that 102 suspects were arrested out of which 18 are female and 84 male.

“53 of the suspects were convicted by the Federal High Court Lafia and serving various jail terms with other cases still currently going on.

“We have rehabilitated nine drug addicts in our facility in Lafia and offered counselling intervention to 397 suspects and users without taking them to custody for prosecution,” the Commander added.

Onche-Odaudu attributed the successes recorded to the effort of their staff across the state and the support and collaboration of the stakeholders and urged that the tempo should be sustained.

He expressed gratitude to Buba Marwa, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA for creating an enabling environment for them to function and Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State and other stakeholders for their support in the fight against Illicit drugs.

The NDLEA boss however listed some challenges confronting the command to include; paucity of funds, inadequate operational vehicles, unwillingness of the public to volunteer information of drug dealers among others.

He said despite the challenges, the personnel at the command are willing to tackle drug trafficking in the state.

“The threat from the rampaging drug monster of drug abuse and illicit trafficking is real and unless all work assiduously, the future of the youths will be mortgaged.

“The war against Drug is everybody’s war and not that of NDLEA alone, I therefore, invite all and sundry to join us to reverse the negative testimony concerning the state,” he added.

The event had in attendance Heads of other Security agencies in the state, students from various secondary schools in Lafia among others.

Nigerian Tribune gathered that Nasarawa state maintained second position as a high drugs prevalent state in the North central geopolitical zone after Kwara.