Stakeholders meet to develop drug use prevention strategy for Nigeria

Emeka Ibemere

Last week, stakeholders in drug use prevention met in a National Seminar on International Standards on Drug Use Prevention in Abuja.

The event which runs from 15-16 October 2014, to formulate a drug use prevention strategy for Nigeria, was done in line with the recently drafted National Drug Control Master Plan 2015-2019.

The seminar was held under the European Union (EU) funded project: “Response to Drugs and Related Organized Crime in Nigeria” being implemented by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Participants in the seminar included policymakers and representatives of relevant government agencies and ministries and non-government organizations. 

During her keynote presentation at the seminar, Ms. Giovanna Campello, from the Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation Section at UNODC Headquarters, said drug prevention is important because it is about safeguarding the health of people and that no health-centered and balanced system can succeed without prevention.

She said the chances of developing mental disorders later in life are greater if a child starts to use psychoactive substances, but that prevention can help stop this because it will help prevent young people from using drugs and at the same time prevent them from engaging in other risky behaviors. Ms. Campello presented results of research conducted on drug use prevention interventions around the world.

She described interventions that have worked and those that have not worked and encouraged participants to base their prevention interventions on evidence and to; “consider using methods that have been proven to be effective in preventing drug use.”

Mr. Frederic Varenne, Program Manager at the EU, said the EU is a partner in the Response to Drugs and Related Organized Crime project because of the balanced and integrated approach the project is employing to tackle drug trafficking and drug abuse.

 “No project to fight illicit drugs all over the world has ever had successful and sustainable results without strong illicit drug use prevention actions”, he said.

“This is an exemplary project that has a substantive part of the resources dedicated to supporting efforts to reduce payments for illicit drugs by implementing quality drug prevention and control strategy. By implementing an illicit drug prevention strategy in Nigeria we will soon see concrete results.”

Response to Drugs and Related Organized Crime in Nigeria is a large scale project that is supporting Nigeria’s efforts to fight illicit drug production, trafficking and use, and to curb related organized crime, including counterfeit narcotics and psychotropic substances.

A key output of the project is the promotion of and development of skills for ‘healthy lifestyles’ in schools, families and communities. The project is working with government counterparts to pilot evidence based prevention programs in Nigeria.

It would be recalled that few weeks ago, Michel Arion, Ambassador and Head of Delegation of the European Union (EU) to Nigeria and ECOWAS handed over 100 desktop and 15 laptop computers to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), at the Agency’s headquarters at the Shaw Road Ikoyi, Lagos State.

The event was the European Union’s funding of a large-scale project, tagged: “Response to Drugs and Related Organized Crime in Nigeria”, which is being implemented by the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crimes (UNODC).

The project was to support Nigeria’s efforts in fighting illicit drug production, trafficking and use, and to curb related organized crimes, including counterfeit narcotics and psychotropic substances.

Delivering his welcome address at the occasion, Alhaji Ahmadu Giade, the Chairman and Chief Executive of the NDLEA, who also received the delegation, said that regional and international cooperation is vital to global success in narcotic control.

“Drug trafficking like terrorism and arms smuggling represents a growing threat to global peace and security. Many lives are being lost on a daily basis around the world. Activities of drug cartels have turned the world into a global village thus making international partnership among drug law officers, donors and international institutions inevitable”. 

According to the NDLEA boss, “this project demonstrates EU’s willingness to assist countries in the implementation of international drug conventions. It will also provide appropriate framework for regional drug control programmes. The challenges posed by illicit drug cultivation, trafficking and abuse are enormous. We therefore believe that through shared responsibility, greater progress will be made in addressing the illicit drug phenomenon”.

Giade enumerated some benefits of the EU project to Nigeria and West Africa. He stated that the project would enhance technical and operational capacity in frontline Agencies leading to targeted interventions on drugs and organized related crimes in Nigeria.

According to him, it would help to manage drug abuse counseling, drug treatment and rehabilitation through the creation of a reliable network of quality drug treatment service providers.

He said the EU intervention has brought about dynamic and positive changes to the operations of NDLEA and would further enhance the technical and operational capacity of frontline agencies, leading to targeted interventions on drugs and related organized crime in Nigeria.

Responding, Michael Arion said. “A key output of the project is to increase the capacity of drug law enforcement agencies to prevent or interdict drug trafficking and related crime. Hence the need to enhance NDLEA’s capacity to collect, analyze and share structured information”.

Donation of the computers was part of the IT and equipment support by the project towards the development of a data exchange centre at NDLEA headquarters and the establishment of an ICT platform across NDLEA Commands. It was expected to ultimately help transform NDLEA into an intelligence-led law enforcement agency. 

“We are assisting NDLEA to become an intelligence-led organization equipped to deal with the challenges of the ever-changing drug industry. A lot has been achieved in less than two years of project implementation, but a lot more still remains to be done,” said Mariam Sissoko.

Also during the handing over ceremony, Michel Arion officially opened a project support office provided to UNODC by NDLEA within its headquarters. The office space and furnishings were provided by NDLEA and it was renovated and equipped with funds from the EU. The office has been operational since February 2014.

Daily Newswatch understands that in order to strengthen regional and international cooperation in the fight against narcotic drugs, the European Union (EU) and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) are working with the Nigerian government to improve regional and international cooperation in drug control.

The EU Ambassador also stressed the need to curtail the activities of drug syndicates through collaboration adding that EU is providing funds for Project NGAV 16 - Response to Drugs and Related Organised Crime.

“At inter-continental level, the European Union finances a number of projects as part of the Cocaine Route Programme. The Cocaine Route programme with a budget of over 30 million Euros covers 36 countries of which half are in Africa, essentially West-Africa, five in the Caribbean countries and the remaining in Latin and Central America,” Arrion further stated.

UNODC country representative Sissoko said that her office is working with the NDLEA to tackle the drug menace.

“We are working with the NDLEA to assist the Agency progress towards an intelligence-led organization equipped to deal with the challenges of the ever changing drug industry. We commend the Chairman and senior management of the NDLEA for decisively embarking on the change management process that is required to strengthen the intelligence-based response of NDLEA to drug matters”, she stated.

Similarly, the National Drug Control Master Plan (NDCMP) 2015-2019, a policy document for drug control is almost finalized. The master plan contains new ideas and new control approaches which will be implemented in the next four years.

The EU has procured 100 desktop computers for the smooth takeoff of a Data Exchange Centre. This would help to establish an evidence based approach in addressing the challenges of illicit drugs in the country.

Under the project an institutional assessment of the Agency was conducted which recommended capacity building and improved funding as the way forward for the Agency. Present at the occasion were Alhaji Ahmadu Giade, Chairman and Chief Executive of NDLEA; Mrs. Roli Bode-George, Director-General NDLEA; Ms Mariam Sissoko, Country Representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Nigeria; other staff of the EU, UNODC and NDLEA, and the media.