By Oluwakemi Kindness
President Bola Tinubu has reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to intensifying the fight against drug abuse and illicit trafficking, pledging stronger enforcement, improved surveillance and evidence-based interventions to curb the growing menace.
Speaking in Abuja on Friday at the 2026 International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, the President, represented by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), said Nigeria would continue to strengthen prevention, rehabilitation and law enforcement efforts to tackle the evolving global drug challenge.
He said the Renewed Hope Agenda addresses both the causes and consequences of drug abuse by expanding access to education, promoting skills development, supporting entrepreneurship, creating jobs and implementing social intervention programmes aimed at reducing young people’s vulnerability to substance abuse and criminal activities.
Tinubu also pledged to tighten border security and enhance surveillance at airports, seaports and land borders while deepening intelligence sharing and collaboration with domestic and international law enforcement agencies to disrupt illicit drug supply chains.
According to the President, investments in forensic laboratories, advanced detection technologies and research will help authorities identify emerging drug trends and stay ahead of increasingly sophisticated criminal networks.
He further assured continued support for law enforcement agencies and the criminal justice system to ensure traffickers are prosecuted and organised criminal syndicates dismantled.
Commending the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) under the leadership of Brig.-Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), Tinubu praised the agency’s record of arrests, seizures, convictions and rehabilitation efforts, including the dismantling of what authorities described as Nigeria’s largest methamphetamine laboratory.
While acknowledging these achievements, he stressed that defeating the drug scourge requires collective action, calling on parents, schools, religious and traditional institutions, civil society groups, the media and the private sector to strengthen prevention, awareness and youth empowerment initiatives.
Earlier, NDLEA Chairman Marwa revealed that the agency arrested 29,262 suspected drug traffickers, secured 5,225 convictions and seized more than 5.3 million kilograms of illicit drugs valued at over ₦1.5 trillion within the last 18 months.
He also disclosed that joint operations with the United States Drug Enforcement Administration and law enforcement agencies in Greece, France and Switzerland led to the dismantling of major transnational drug syndicates, including the arrest of a 63-year-old suspected drug baron, Innocent Anochili, alongside three Mexican nationals and six Nigerians linked to a cross-continental methamphetamine network.
Marwa added that another clandestine methamphetamine laboratory uncovered in Oyo State resulted in the arrest of a Mexican national and four accomplices, while a total of 234 suspected drug barons have been apprehended over the past five years.
Beyond enforcement, he said the NDLEA has expanded its Drug Demand Reduction initiatives through the War Against Drug Abuse campaign, conducting 6,645 awareness programmes that have reached nearly five million Nigerians and providing counselling, treatment and rehabilitation services to 13,508 drug users through its 31 centres nationwide.
The agency is also deploying advanced technology, deep-web intelligence and data analytics to detect emerging threats while promoting alternative livelihoods for cannabis farmers through programmes encouraging the cultivation of legal crops such as cassava, maize, cocoa and cowpeas.
The event featured goodwill messages from stakeholders, including the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, which commended Nigeria’s balanced approach combining enforcement with prevention and rehabilitation, as well as the presentation of prizes to winners of the NDLEA’s national inter-secondary school essay competition.
