The Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, retired Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa, says while Nigeria may celebrate milestones recorded over the past five years, the country must also confront the “sobering reality” of a mutating drug threat.
Marwa made the remarks at the opening session of a two-day National Drug Control Master Plan (NDCMP) Consultative Forum organised by the agency on Monday in Abuja.
He said UNODC projections suggest a 40 per cent spike in drug use across Africa by 2030, while recent reports from the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (GI-TOC) indicate that West Africa remains a high-pressure corridor for cocaine flows between Latin America and Europe.
He added that Nigeria’s drug landscape was becoming increasingly complex due to the surge in synthetic substances, prescription drug abuse, poly-drug use, and New Psychoactive Substances (NPS), as well as the digitalisation of the drug trade through encrypted platforms and dark-web operations.
“As Africa’s most populous nation and largest economy, Nigeria cannot afford to be a passive observer. The risks to our youth, our workforce, and our national security are too high.
