Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Buba Marwa, has announced the establishment of six rehabilitation centers across the country to combat the rising trend of drug misuse.
Marwa made the announcement during the Centre for Research and Information on Substance Abuse (CRISAfifth )’s biennial national symposium on drugs and drug policy in Nigeria on Wednesday, October 27.
He stated that rehabilitation centers will be created in each of Nigeria’s geographical zones, while also expressing concern about the country’s high rate of drug misuse and stating that the agency is determined to correcting the trend.
“Substance use and abuse around the world including Nigeria is on the increase in terms of the proportion of the world’s population. Findings from the National Drug Use Survey (2018) conducted by the UNODC revealed that 14.4% or 14.3 million Nigerians aged 15 – 64 years had used a psychoactive substance in the past year for non-medical purposes, meaning that one in seven persons has used some substances other than alcohol and tobacco,” he said.
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“More worrisome is the finding that among every four drug users in Nigeria, one is a woman. Above findings of the survey by UNODC give a troubling portrait of drug abuse in Nigeria and we can no longer live in denial that Nigeria has a thriving illicit drug culture.
“There is no doubt that substance use impacts negatively on the individual, family and the society in general. Substance abuse affects the physical, social and psychological levels of the user and family members.
“Evidence has shown that COVID-19 infections are higher or more common with people diagnosed with Substance Use Disorders (SUD), hence addiction care must be reinforced in order to avoid complications of SUD and COVID-19.
“Reducing the demand for illicit drugs in the society depends to a large extent on the successful treatment of existing drug users. This fact accounts for the shift in global drug policy viz the treatment of drug problems as a public health issue.
“Consequently, we have operationalized our standard practice and policy guidelines, a treatment and rehabilitation document developed in conjunction with UNODC. The document, like a field manual, provides synergy among our counsellors and further boosts our capability at treatment and rehabilitation.”
