Nigeria will
get a new National Drug Control Master Plan (NDCMP) in September 2014 when
President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan endorses the final draft which will soon be
sent to the presidency.
The
implementation of the proposed Master Plan is expected to take effect from 2015
to 2019. This policy document which provides a road map for the nation’s
anti-narcotic campaign is a product of elaborate deliberations and
consultations by an Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC), departments, agencies
and experts led by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
Chairman/Chief
Executive of the Agency, Ahmadu Giade while applauding members of the committee
for their diligence called for more support for drug control programmes. “I am
pleased with the commitment of the committee members and the rich content of
the draft plan. The Agency shall work with relevant organisations towards the
full implementation of the Plan. We incorporated ministries, organisations and
agencies because everyone has a role to play in the control of drugs”.
Giade
thanked the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the European
Union (EU) for their technical assistance to Nigeria’s fight against drug
production, trafficking and use as well as related organized crimes.
NDLEA
Director General, Mrs. Roli Bode-George presided over the meeting of senior
representatives from thirty ministries, departments and agencies that ended
last weekend in Lagos. The major task before the meeting was the formulation of
a Master Plan that will run for the next four years beginning in 2015. The
master plan will among other things provides a roadmap for the government of
Nigeria and its ministries, departments and agencies to enhance the response to
the drug situation in Nigeria. It seeks a balanced approach to improve the
response to the supply or production of illicit drugs and efforts to reduce the
demand for drugs.
According to
Mrs. Bode-George “there is need for an evidence-based approach to the
development of the Master Plan. Each ministry, department and agency must be
deeply committed to the implementation of the plan by incorporating it into
their respective operational plans. This will provide a wider platform for
stakeholders to collectively address the complex drug problem”.
Two
international experts, Dr. Ugi Zvekic and Professor Moruf Adelekan were also
engaged by the UNODC in the drafting of the new plan. The meeting is one of the
eight stages designed to develop a comprehensive drug control master plan for
the country. This is sequel to a
bottom-up consultative engagement with stakeholders carried out and
accomplished in the form of eleven (11) town hall style meetings across
Nigeria, encompassing the six geo-political zones during the period of April
and June 2014.
The master
plan is designed around four strategic pillars and themes, namely: law
enforcement responses; drug demand reduction; access and control of licit
narcotics and psychotropic substances for medical and scientific purposes; and
coordination, implementation, along with monitoring and evaluation.
The meeting
produced a draft plan which will be submitted to the Federal Government of
Nigeria for endorsement in September 2014. Coordination and implementation of
this plan was a key focus of this meeting, with the IMC resolving to establish
an NDLEA-led National Coordinating Unit to coordinate and monitor the
implementation of the master plan.
The
development of the plan is an integral part of the European Union funded and
UNODC implemented project “Response to Drugs and Related Organized Crime in
Nigeria”.
Ofoyeju
Mitchell
Head, Public
Affairs
08034088136
No comments:
Post a Comment