‘NDLEA is not afraid of N35bn probe’

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) yesterday, said it was not afraid of the planned probe of the Agency by the House of Representatives.

Describing the forthcoming probe as a blessing, the Agency said by the Agency.

The House of Representatives said it would probe the activities of NDLEA  over the past 10 years.

The House said that the Agency seized drugs, assets and properties of drug offenders worth over N35 billion.

The House mandated its joint Committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes as well as Finance, to investigate alleged misappropriated funds.

The joint committee is also expected to find out why hard drug trade subsists despite huge penalties imposed on drug peddlers in the country.

According to the lawmakers,  the agency in the past 10 years, had not given account of seized drugs, assets and properties of drug offenders valued at about N35 billion.

The House that the Agency was about to dispose the hard drugs and auction some of the seized and forfeited assets of drugs offenders in the next few days, contrary to established legal procedures.

NDLEA said it welcomes the probe because the said amount represents the estimated value of seized drugs by the Agency and not physical cash. The Agency added that such seized drugs are regularly destroyed publicly in line with the NDLEA Act.

The Agency spokesman, Mitchell Ofoyeju said: “The probe will not only give NDLEA a clean bill of health but will ultimately enable the House to appreciate the Agency’s impressive scorecard in the past 10 years and increase its budgetary appropriation for optimal performance in the country’s war against narcotics.”

Ofoyeju said that the NDLEA deserves commendation as one of the Agencies of government that had judiciously managed its annual budgetary allocations with zero tolerance for corruption.

He added: “The remarkable result recorded is a product of pragmatic leadership, selfless-sacrifices made by dedicated officers as well as the goodwill of stakeholders. The past 10 years of the NDLEA under the immediate past Chairman Ahmadu Giade can best be described as the golden era of drug control in Nigeria. This has led to the ever rising international profile of Nigeria through dislodgement of drug trafficking cartels, removal of Nigeria from the Drug Majors List by the United States, unprecedented seizures of drugs as well as arrests and convictions of drug traffickers.”

The image maker said that between 2006 and 2014, NDLEA seized narcotic drugs weighing N55, 830,837kg, valued at over one trillion naira. It also arrested 72,253 suspected drug traffickers. The suspected traffickers consists of 67,773 males and 4,480 females, while the breakdown of drugs is as follows; 55,657,727.32kg of cannabis, 17,748.382kg of cocaine, 874.304kg of heroin and 153,831.6kg of psychotropic substances.

The NDLEA also prosecuted 14,801 drug traffickers within the period and won 14,668 cases.