President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, has attributed the lingering insecurity to the funding activities of drug barons who provide insurgent groups such as Boko Haram, bandits and kidnappers with arms and ammunitions to undertake criminal activities in the country.
Lawan made this known when the Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brigadier General Buba Marwa (Rtd), paid a visit to his office on Thursday at the National Assembly, Abuja.
According to him, such drug barons who engage in trafficking heroine, cannabis and cocaine have made Nigeria a major transit route for plying the illicit trade, which he added, was responsible for the rise in criminality in the country.
The Senate President, therefore, called for the restructuring of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), so as to further empower it to rise to the occasion of clamping down on the criminal activities of drug traffickers operating in the country.
He assured that the National Assembly would support the agency in the aspect of amending the NDLEA Act with a view to enabling the agency achieve its core mandates.
He said: “The National Assembly members are almost on a daily interaction with our constituents and we know the very debilitating impact of drug abuse in our various communities.”
Speaking on the drug addiction rate in Nigeria, Lawan underscored the need for multi-dimensional efforts across the various agencies of governments aimed at tackling underlying causes such as illiteracy, unemployment and poverty, responsible for the exposure of youths to criminal tendencies.
The Senate President also advocated for the inclusion of Drug Education in the curricular for schools and institutions of learning in Nigeria.
