Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig-Gen Buba Marwa (rtd), has urged traditional rulers and parent to demand for drug-free certificate before contracting marriages.
Marwa made the call on Monday during a courtesy call on the Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Garbai El-Kanemi in Maiduguri.
Marwa said that intending couple should also be asked for their HIV/AIDS result as well as results of other medical tests.
He said that the measure has became imperative, considering the worsening menace of drug use in the country.
“The need for wedding Fatihah to be accompanied with drug-free certificate is very important as both parents will have rest of mind.
“Now you have so many cases after marriages, some men chasing their wives with knives in the house,”he said.
He said that the measure has been adopted in other parts of the country, adding that it was important for all sections of the country to embrace the idea which would go a long way in safeguarding marriages as well as ensuring a drug-free society.
He charged traditional and religious leaders to champion the campaign against substance abuse and illicit drug trafficking in their communities.
The NDLEA chairman conferred the Shehu of Borno with the title of Royal Ambassador of War Against Drug Abuse in Nigeria.
In his response, the Shehu acknowledged the tremendous efforts and commitment of the NDLEA to make Nigeria a drug-free country.
El-Kanemi who lamented the destruction caused by insurgents under the influence of drugs in Borno, assured the NDLEA chairman of their support for the campaign against drug abuse and trafficking in the state.
The Lagos State Command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) will soon clamp down on illegal sales and consumption of nitrous oxide substance popularly called ‘laughing gas’.
Mr Umar Adoro, the State commander of the agency, disclosed this in an interview on Tuesday in Lagos.
Adoro said this was in line with the directive by the Chairman and the Chief Executive Officer of the agency, Brig.- Gen. Buba Marwa, to all commands and formations to start an immediate clampdown on the illegal sale of the substance.
He said the substance is commonly used for sedation and pain relief, often by dentists and medical professionals for patients undergoing minor medical procedures.
Adoro added that the abuse was fast emerging, especially by young partygoers or fun-seekers to feel intoxicated or high.
He said the agency would work hard to tackle the emerging trend because of its implication on the nervous system.
“The abuse of the gas slows down brain and body responses. However, the effects of the drug vary depending on the quantity inhaled.
“Taking nitrous oxide can cause feelings of euphoria, relaxation, fits of giggles and laughter – hence, the nickname ‘laughing gas.
“The gas is often transferred from its containers into balloons, from where it’s inhaled for euphoric effects,” Adoro said.
He warned Nigerians who deal on the substance to have a change of heart as their activity negates morality.
He said the anti-narcotic agency would remain ever committed to its mandate of clearing the country of illicit drug trafficking.
The Federal Government has ordered a nationwide clampdown on the sale and use of nitrous oxide also known as “laughing gas.”
Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Buba Marwa a retired Brigadier General gave the order on Tuesday in response to the indiscriminate use of the product for recreational purposes, noting that its demand had spiked.
Marwa was quoted in a statement as saying that nitrous oxide was “fast emerging as a drug in demand in Nigeria by young party-goers or fun-seekers to feel intoxicated or high”.
“The decision to clampdown on those involved in the illegal sale and use of nitrous oxide follows an analysis of the effects on those who abuse the substance, which include: dizziness; disorientation, headache; lightheadedness; fainting spells; hallucinations; falling unconscious and/or suffocating from lack of oxygen; and other neurological complications, especially psychiatric symptoms,” the statement added.
Nitrous oxide, also called “N20″ is a colourless non-flammable gas at room temperature and is often used in hospitals, especially in surgery and dentistry, for its anaesthetic and pain-reducing effects.
Nitrous oxide metal bulbs or laughing gas recreational drug use.
However, at elevated temperatures, nitrous oxide is a powerful oxidiser similar to molecular oxygen and is used in rocket propellants or motor racing to increase the power output of engines.
Recreationally too, the gas which has a slightly sweet scent and taste, is inhaled for its rapid but short-lived feelings of euphoria, relaxation, calmness, and sense of detachment. Marwa noted that the gas is often transferred from its containers into balloons, where it is inhaled.
When intoxicated accidents like tripping and falling may occur and the statement warned of dire consequences for anyone caught with the substance.
Other common adverse effects from using small amounts include dizziness, light-headedness, disorientation, headache, temporary loss of co-ordination and balance, seizures, and a generalised tingling sensation.
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), says it has destroyed and set ablaze over 317,417 kgs (317.4 metric tons) of cannabis sativa in the Opuje forests, Edo.
The Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA, Mr Femi Babafemi, disclosed this on Saturday in a statement made available to Journalists in Abuja.
Babafemi said that this happened barely hours after the Chairman, NDLEA, retired Brig.-Gen. Buba Marwa, vowed to make life tough for drug barons and cartels in the new year if they failed to back out of the illicit trade.
He said that Operatives of the agency have dealt a lethal blow to a cluster of cannabis syndicates operating in the said forest during the two-day operation.
“At least, a police impersonator, Omoruan Theophilus, 37, who parades as a Police Inspector to convey the drugs from the forests to the cities, was arrested.
“And three others: Aigberuan Jacob, 42; Ekeinde Anthony Zaza, 53, and Naomi Patience Ohiewere, 42, were also arrested in connection with the drugs,” he said.
Babafemi said that the Opuje community in Owan West Local Government Area of Edo is notorious for cannabis cultivation, where the cartels invest huge resources.
This, he said, involved cutting down economic trees of the forest and cultivating cannabis on a large scale, running into hundreds of hectares.
“After harvest, they build warehouses inside the forest reserves and employ the services of armed youths to protect the warehouses 24/7.
“Accessing the forest on Wednesday January 18, took hours of trekking by hundreds of NDLEA operatives who were ambushed with bonfire by armed youths on their way out of the community the following day.
“They were, however, able to successfully leave the area without any casualty except the heavy investment losses inflicted on the cartels,” he said.
In the same vein, the agency on Thursday, Jan. 19, through intelligence received from the Drug Enforcement Administration of the United States, busted a criminal syndicate.
Babafemi said that the suspect was involved in the trafficking of fake American currency in Lagos.
He said that during a combined operation carried out by NDLEA operatives with their EFCC colleagues, a total of US$269,000 counterfeit currency were recovered from the syndicate.
This, he said, was at Oniru Shoprite area of Lekki, Lagos, where three suspects were arrested.
He quoted Marwa as commending all the officers involved in the two special operations in Edo and Lagos for their professionalism and commitment.
Marwa directed that the suspects arrested (with their fake dollars) in the Lekki operation be immediately transferred to the EFCC for possible prosecution.
A 60-year-old grandmother, Mrs. Ibinosun Sandra Esther, and a pregnant woman have been arrested during interdiction operations in which 5,527.15 kilograms of methamphetamine and cannabis sativa, as well as 132,090 tablets of tramadol and 2,000 bottles of codeine were recovered by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA across five states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja in the past week.
The Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), has however directed that the pregnant woman be granted administrative bail pending when she is delivered of her baby and thereafter return for her prosecution because at the time of her arrest, she was in her ninth month of pregnancy.
The grandma was arrested in Ibadan, Oyo state in a follow up operation following the seizure of 5.5kg Loud variant of cannabis imported into the country from South Africa.
The consignment, which she claimed was sent to her by her daughter was concealed in two giant Speakers as part of a consolidated cargo that arrived the NAHCO import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja Lagos on board an Airpeace Airline flight.
In a related development, NDLEA operatives also on Saturday 26th November intercepted 1.4 kilograms of methamphetamine concealed inside custard tins packed among cosmetics and foodstuffs going to Brazil via Doha on a Qatar Airways flight.
A cargo agent, Salako Omolara Fausat who brought the bag containing the illicit drug to the airport and an intending passenger to Brazil, Anyanwu Christian, who was to travel with the consignment were promptly arrested.
Another attempt by a freight agent, Adebisi Aina Hafsat to export 3,000 tablets of tramadol concealed in motor spare parts to Banjul, Gambia through the NAHCO export shed was equally thwarted by operatives who seized the consignment and arrested her on Monday 28th Nov, while a follow up operation to Ebute-Meta area of Lagos the following day, Tuesday 29th Nov led to the arrest of the actual owner, Afam Chibuke Stanley, who is a spare parts seller.
This was followed by the seizure of 100,000 tablets of Royal brand of Tramadol 200mg with a gross weight of 68.90 kilograms imported from Karachi, Pakistan on Ethiopian Airlines at the SAHCO import shed.
In Abuja, operatives stormed the warehouse of a notorious drug lord and an ex-convict, Ibrahim Momoh, alias Ibrahim Bendel who escaped from prison custody to return to his criminal trade and recovered 81 jumbo bags of cannabis weighing 1,278kgs.
Though the fleeing drug dealer is still at large and is wanted by the Agency, his warehouse keeper, 55-year-old Ghanaian, Richard Forson Gordon, was arrested.
Ibrahim Momoh was first arrested on 27th November, 2014 with the same substance weighing 385.1kgs, prosecuted, convicted and sentenced to seven and a half years in prison on 22nd of April, 2020 but escaped from jail after three months.
Meanwhile, no fewer than 2,000 bottles of codeine-based syrup were seized in a commercial bus by operatives on Friday 2nd December along Lokoja – Abuja expressway.
In Rivers state, operatives on Saturday 3rd Dec arrested a 29-year-old pregnant woman, Kate Ibinabo with 34.4kgs cannabis sativa in Okrika area of the state.
In Ondo state, 241 bags of the psychoactive substance with a gross weight of 3,133kg were recovered from a building at Ilale Cashew, Ehinogbe, Owo, on Tuesday 29th Nov. At least, 507.9kgs of cannabis were also seized during a raid at the hideout of a fleeing drug dealer in Mushin area of Lagos on Thursday 1st Dec.
In Cross River, 53 jumbo bags of C/S weighing 567.05kgs were seized from three suspects: Bassey Boniface Eyibio, 38; Effiong Akiba Etim, 30 and Ngbong Raymond, 45 at Mpara junction, Odukpani LGA on Thursday 1st Dec while conveying the consignment in a bus marked CKK 74 AA. Operatives equally arrested another suspect, Ali Mohammed along Potiskum- Damaturu road after they found 29,090 tablets of tramadol in his personal Honda car marked ABC 914 RW coming from Gombe to Damaturu, Yobe state.
While commending the officers and men of the MMIA, Rivers, Ondo, Lagos, Cross River and Yobe Commands of the Agency for the arrests and seizures, Gen. Marwa charged them and their counterparts across other formations to continue to step up their offensives against drug cartels.
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has denied requests to buy sniffer dogs in its 2023 budget proposal.
NDLEA spokesman, Mr Femi Babafemi stated on Saturday in Abuja that NDLEA chairman, retired Gen. Buba Marwa only spoke about dogs while defending the agency’s 2023 budget proposal.
He added that Marwa spoke about dogs while responding to a question posed by the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Drugs and Narcotics, Hon. Francis Agbo at the budget defence.
He stated that the chairman only spoke about the prohibitive cost of specialised dogs, adding that the question centred on the need for sniffer dogs at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
Recall Marwa defended NDLEA’s 2023 budget before the committee on Nov. 4
Babafemi explained that in response to Agbo’s question, Marwa noted the total package of getting a specialised dog including its training, costs an average of 15,000 dollars to 20,000 dollars.
He quoted Marwa as telling the committee that the specialised dogs are able to detect up to 70 different types of drugs and substances.
Marwa said the cost could be verified openly online by anyone interested in knowing the facts about the dogs.
“Indeed, the full package of some specialised dogs, especially those used for special protection, detection and law enforcement in other jurisdictions cost between 30,000 dollars and 80,000 dollars.
“They could cost more, depending on the type of skills and duties in which they would be trained.
“In fact, Harrison K-9, an Aiken, South Carolina, U.S.-based company sells a dog for as much as 230,000 dollars.
“This is because acquiring specialised dogs goes beyond the cost of purchase.
“It is a total package that includes the training of the dogs and their handlers as a team over a period of months,’’ Marwa said at the budget defence.
He included in his response to the question that NDLEA has and uses sniffer dogs provided by the German government, adding that it already acquired new scanners for use at airports.
According to him, all of these have been largely responsible for the daily arrests and seizures made by officers and men of the NDLEA.
“We remain grateful to the German government, which has provided the sniffer dogs currently being used and has even added more this year.
“It is also building a sniffer dog academy for use by the NDLEA and others in the sub-region.
“This is why the agency has not and did not make any request for the specialised dogs in its current budget proposal before the National Assembly,’’ Marwa also said.
Fresh facts emerged yesterday on how the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba and Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa, retd, met at Force Headquarters, Abuja, to decide the fate of the suspended commander of the Police Force Intelligence Response Team, DCP Abba Kyari, over his involvement in a 25kg cocaine deal.
The revelation came on a day the Police shut down all IRT units in states across the federation, following the arrest of DCP Kyari.
Hajiya Zainab Marwa, wife of the former military Governor of Lagos and current Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Brigadier General Mohammed Buba Marwa (retd.), has died at 66, the family said in a statement on Saturday.
The brief statement by the family disclosed that the deceased died in the early hours of Saturday after a brief illness.
The deceased is survived by four adult children: Abubakar, Mohamed Jr, Mariam and Zainab, and 10 grandchildren as well as her siblings and aged mother.
During her lifetime, she championed the course of women and the girl child.
The statement added that a burial arrangement will be announced at a later date by the family.
Chairman National Drug Law and Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Brigadier General Buba Marwa on Wednesday said on assumption of office he had to buy furniture and television set for his office from his pocket, insisting the agency is poorly funded.
TheNewsGuru.com, (TNG) reports Marwa made this revelation during the 2022 budget defence of his agency before the House of Representatives committee on Narcotics in Abuja on Wednesday.
According to Marwa, drug addiction and trafficking is a major social and economic concern across the globe and Nigeria as a nation is not left out.
He said “billions of dollars are been voted every year by these countries to fight the scourge as well as go into cross borders agreement to stop illicit trade from getting into their countries.
He explained that the agency is grossly under funded to the extent that on resumption as chairman of the agency, he bought his own television set and office furniture from his purse.
The former governor of Lagos State listed various areas the agency is lacking which includes inadequate funding to required arms and ammunitions, vehicles for operations, accommodation for staff and low budget for media and publicity to mention a few.
Members of the committee expressed their desire to assist the agency in everyway possible to function effectively and efficiently.
The committee also promised to render all assistance to ensure more funding for the the agency to provide equipment and for the welfare of its personnel to enable operatives block access of illicit drugs in the country.
Retired Brig.-Gen. Buba Marwa, Chairman of National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), has said that anyone intending to get married would have to do drug test.
He stated this on Saturday at the yearly Ogidi-Ela Day cultural celebration in Ijumu Local Government Area of Kogi.
Marwa, who was the guest speaker at the occasion, also said that President Muhammadu Buhari was resolute in his new thrust to purge the country of illicit drugs.
“Be reminded ladies and gentlemen, that, President Muhammadu Buhari is resolute in his new thrust to purge urge the country of illicit drugs
“And the NDLEA is doing everything possible to meet up with Presidential Mandate to clean up our streets, towns and cities.
“That is why we have put in place various programmes with far reaching effects, one of which is drug integrity test.
“In the nearest future, anyone seeking employment into any government industry or ministry, parastatal or agency; or seeking admission into tertiary institution; or even getting married must first have to do drug test,” he said.
Explaining further, Marwa said intending couples have always had to do one test or the other to ensure that they have a successful marriage.
“If people are getting married don’t we ask them to do HIV test?
“Don’t you ask them to bring (result) of their Genotype Test?
“Now, if I put the question: How many (parents) want their children to marry drug addicts?
“Please raise your hands”.
There was no hand raised from his audience, so, the former Military Administrator of Lagos State urged parents to protect their children and their future by saying “No to drug”.
“Let me also seize this opportunity to say how delighted I am to say that Ogidi (community) has a very successful and resourceful persons who can catalyze the efforts of keep drugs and their destructive consequences out of our country.”
He eulogized the contributions of some indigenes of Ogidi community to national development
