Solution to Boko Haram insurgency, insecurity is drug control-Adams Jagaba

Femi Ajayi NDLEA DG, Jagaba Adams Jagaba and Ahmadu Giade NDLEA chairman

The Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes, Honourable Jagaba Adams Jagaba, yesterday said that acts of militancy, terrorism and crimes could be checked through control of illicit drugs.

He stated this during a visit to the Agency’s office at Ikoyi, Lagos State, even as he noted that poor funding was the reason NDLEA had not perform to the maximum.

His words: “Acts of militancy, terrorism, armed robbery and violent crimes are rooted in drug abuse. If we must fight crime in this country we need to control drugs. If we must control drugs, NDLEA must be funded by the Federal Government.”

Lamenting the poor state of infrastructure in the anti-narcotic Agency, Jagaba called for federal government to as a matter of urgency; intervene in the poor funding situation which NDLEA is being confronted with.

He explained: “We are here on oversight assignment but there is no work for us because of lack of fund. In this year’s budget N100million was approved for the NDLEA out of which only N18.7 million has been released. Nothing could be done with the money released because the deficit of the previous year is about N23 million. The Federal Government needs to provide funds for the Agency to enable it perform optimally,” insisted Jagaba.

Worried over the perennial problem of inadequate funding in the Agency, the Committee Chairman said that an urgent intervention was required.

In his words, “this committee has carried out an independent investigation on the Agency and our findings are worrisome. NDLEA offices across the country are all in dilapidated condition, in dire need of renovation. The Agency lacks operational vehicles, sniffer dogs, training and even arms and ammunitions. In the past five years, 20 officers have lost their lives in active service. This is very sad.”

He added that the NDLEA has only four sniffer dogs which were donated by international collaborators.

“The Agency has four sniffer dogs, all donated by its international partners. This number is not adequate for the international wing of the Lagos airport alone. The Agency lacks money to source for intelligence. Even the new officers recruited two years ago have not been trained because of lack of funds. This should not be so” Jagaba stated.

Another source of worry for the committee is the recent discovery of clandestine laboratories by the NDLEA in Lagos where methamphetamine, a very dangerous type ‘A’ drug is being produced. The committee noted that the Agency needs relevant training to suppress the ugly development.

“It is sad that the Agency has to bring experts from outside the country to assist in the dismantling of the laboratories due to lack of requisite technical expertise. This is the reason adequate money must be released to the Agency to enhance its capacity in order to be at breast with current drug control strategies”.

“The NDLEA has shown that it has the capacity to manage even the meagre resources at its disposal. The record of arrest is impressive and I think we must join hands in moving the Agency forward. As a committee, we shall work with you to ensure that everything is in place in line with best practices” the committee Chairman promised.