MARGARET CHIDERA
Chairman, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig Gen Buba Marwa, (Retd), has revealed that drug barons were assassinating operatives of the Agency in the renewed fight against drug and narcotics abuse in the country.
Marwa made this revelation on Thursday while appearing before the House of Representatives Committee on Drugs and Narcotics to defend the Agency’s 2022 budget performance and 2023 proposal.
He emphasised the need for urgent provision of barracks for operatives of the Agency pointing that: “The barracks issue is very critical to us because as we all know, the NDLEA is aggressive now against drug traffickers and barons.
“When arrested, prosecuted and sent to jail, they are not happy. So, they come after our personnel and with our personnel living in the town and cities among them, we have been recording casualties and assassinations against our personnel,” he said.
He said with President Muhammadu Buhari’s consent, the Agency is in the process of building a barrack for NDLEA personnel for the first time.
Marwa also noted that the Agency is in the process of building three rehab centres, two forensic laboratories and purchasing of security equipment.
“We have concluded acquisition of land in Adamawa, Abuja and Lagos state for the barracks and the Private Puplic Partnership process, rounding off.
“N24 billion was allocated to the barracks project in the 2022 budget but slashed to N13 billion in the 2023 budget proposal,” calling for an additional N10 billion for the projects.
“Like I said earlier, President Buhari had graciously approved the construction of barracks for the Agency last 2022. The barrack project is ongoing and the sum of N13 billion has been captured in the 2023 budget proposal.
“Last year, it was N24 billion. Actually N24 billion cannot build a barrack, complete barrack. But we had to figure out certain key priorities in selected areas, bearing in mind the need to go round all the geopolitical zones and this year, we have been able to look at four zones. We have touched Lagos but it still needs more to be done.
“We plead for money for the barrack, because N13 billion would probably build half of what we intended to build, but if we are able to achieve another 10 billion or more on this barrack project, then we would be able to add three more of the geopolitical zones for us to complete six.
“Hopefully, as the years go by and we have other chairman, the struggle for barracks would continue.”
Marwa said from January 2021 the Agency has arrested over 19, 000 persons adding that 28 drug barons have also been arrested and are being prosecuted.
He said 5452 metric tonnes illicit drugs, with a street value of N420 billion has been seized noting that over 3000 convictions have been secured, over 12000 have been counseled in rehabilitation centres.
He also said the Agency has destroyed cannabis farms of 714 hectares.
“The Agency was appropriated a total of 38, 933, 249, 197.18 for 2022 and during the year under review, it completed the recruitment of 5000 additional personnel.
“This number was out of a total of 15, 000 which was approved by the President to be implemented incrementally.
“So, though the recruitment exercise started last year, the training was concluded this year. The 15, 000 approved by the president has been segmented into three phases of 5000 each. We did 5000 last year, completed this year.
“The second 5000 has received Mr President’s approval and is in the process. We hope that within the next quarter, funding would have been released and we would fully engage ourselves in the process of the next 5000,” he said.
He added that the agency recorded the largest seizure ever of pure cocaine in 2022.11.3
“In the course of 2022, I am glad to mention that the agency made history by recording the largest seizure ever, of pure cocaine weighing over 2.1 metric tonnes, which is worth $315 million or over N230 billion.
“We were able to arrest five barons, located in different parts of Lagos, practically without firing a shot.
“We had to coordinate it properly so that none would be arrested one minute earlier than the other because they will alert the others and they would escape. But we were able to do it clinically for those five at the same time in one night.
“We have arrested and are prosecuting so far, 28 barons with seizures worth billions of naira. Indeed one of the barons, we found, had 103 bank accounts with a total balance of over 20 billion naira, which we have frozen,” he said.
“For the 2023 proposal, he said Agency was allocated a sum of N40, 112, 063, 869 of which N16,607,531,761.00 for recurrent personnel cost; N2,064,083,294.00 for recurrent overhead cost and N21,440,448,814.00 for capital,” he stated.
