TheCable

Buba Marwa, chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), says personnel would be deployed in all 774  LGAs to combat illicit drug trafficking and abuse.

Marwa spoke on Friday while responding to a request for partnership and deployment of more NDLEA officers to all parts of Katsina by Umar Radda, governor of the state.

He said the staff capacity of the NDLEA is expected to increase to 15,000 by the end of the year, adding that the agency’s next step would be to address illicit drug operations in local communities.

He said drugs have caused great harm to many youths as about 99 percent of them usually have access to drugs before they carry out criminal activities.

“The anti-narcotics body will deploy personnel in all 774 local government areas of the country in 2024 as part of efforts to strengthen the war against substance abuse and illicit drug trafficking especially in local communities,” he said.

“The agency’s staff strength is expected to rise to 15,000 by the end of the year, the next development is to deploy in the LGAs. We currently have zonal commands, state commands, and area commands.

“We want to go to the LGAs for the offensive action and the advocacy work.

“We would need more support to succeed. I appreciate the work of the Katsina governor as the challenges are numerous in governing the state.

“But if insecurity is a problem and is fuelled by drugs, I believe we have to collectively take it out of the security equation.”

The NDLEA chairman said the management of the agency is working to address the menace through advocacy and sensitisation.

He said over 6,668 tons of illicit substances have been seized in two years.

On his part, Radda said insecurity in Katsina is fuelled by the use of drugs by the youths.

“It is no longer news that the problem of insecurity has been ongoing for years and insecurity is one of the major issues confronting Katsina state,” the governor said.

“We decided to reach out to the NDLEA under the leadership of the chairman/chief executive to combine our efforts and synergise to mitigate the effect of insecurity in the state.

“We are appealing for better partnership and synergy to reduce the abuse of drugs, the activities of banditry and trafficking in the state.”