Retired Brig-Gen.Buba Marwa, Chairman, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), has disclosed that over four billion naira is being owed members of staff of the agency.
Marwa, who made the disclosure in Abuja, on Thursday, at a meeting with the leadership of the Senate, added that the amount included various statutory entitlements by previous administration of the agency.
He said the nonpayment of the entitlements to staff, was affecting their morale in the fight against substance abuse in Nigeria.
Marwa decried the comatose nature of the agency at his resumption of duty, adding that the inadequate salary emolument, due to staff of the agency, were issues that could dampen their morale.
He said further that absence of staff training programmes, and new postings of staff for a long time, are issues that could make a staff compromise to drug barons in the line of duty.
He called on the National Assembly to review the act establishing the agency, to enable it intensify fight against debilitating drug abuse in Nigeria, adding that the nation was under siege of drug abuse.
“These criminalities and insurgencies will not end so quickly until we face the underlining nexus between it and drugs.
“Unfortunately to this point, the drug situation is not properly factored into the security architecture. We look at the other segments but forget that this is the causative area that needs to be equally attended to.
“Every part of Nigeria and Nigerians are affected in the realm of drug abuse, you can for sure say that every person in this room knows somebody or a neighbour or a family that has affliction with drug abuse.
“The drug abuse scourge is actually the number one problem we are facing, it is everywhere.
“First of all, drug abuse destroys our kids, women, our youths, the farming system and secondly, it is behind the criminalities which is everywhere now, the NDLEA chairman said.
According to Marwa, there is an urgent need to amend the act establishing the NDLEA, for effective fight against drug abuse, noting that the act was promulgated in 1989.
He also called for improved funding saying that the agency required intervention from Senate.
He also called for the construction of barracks for the NDLEA staff, across the nation to insulate the staff from living among supposed drug barons in the society.
In his remarks President of Senate, Ahmed Lawan promised that the Senate would give an expeditious passage to the amendment of the act of NDLEA.
“This should be one of our priorities, this is a dire situation that requires an immediate attention of the National Assembly and we will treat it as such.
“If we can pass it before we go on our second break in July that will be fantastic.
“NDLEA should be in the league of EFCC, the ICPC and therefore the kind of support those agencies are receiving, should also be received by it.
“I believe that we should go on advocacy and sensitisation exercises to our primary, secondary and tertiary institutions.
“So that right from primary schools and probably at secondary school level, our students should be able to understand the dangers of taking drugs, “he said.
He said there was need to make the stiffer penalty for offenders of drug laws.
Lawan called for establishment of more rehabilitation centres across the country to rehabilitate Nigerians who are already emersed in drugs.
The Senate President also called on the NDLEA authorities, in collaboration with other agencies like the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS)the Port authorities, to address issues of transit routes in Nigeria used by drug traffickers.
