Chairman/Chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, retired Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) has warned that the current moves by some stakeholders to push for the legalisation of cannabis in Nigeria will rob the country of the gains made so far in the renewed war against drug abuse and trafficking in the country.
The NDLEA boss spoke in Abuja yesterday at a national security summit organised by the House of Representatives.
He said the present figure of ten point six million Nigerians abusing cannabis is frightening and enough to sound the alarm bell.
Marwa said the strong nexus between drug abuse and the security challenges across the country is incontrovertible and there is no bigger national issue than the issue of insecurity in Nigeria.
According to him, insecurity is one of the biggest challenges threatening the country.
He opined that even though the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration is committed to to ending insecurity, it is presently, a full-blown malady with many manifestations such as insurgency, banditry, kidnapping, murder, robbery, reprisal killing.
Marwa urged lawmakers not to legalise cannabis because it will amount to taking a step forward and ten steps backward as it would rob the nation of recent gains in the war against illicit drugs.
He disclosed that in less than four months, the agency had been able to mop up over two million kilograms of illicit drugs, with over ninety billion naira worth of illicit substances seized.
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