As part of sustained efforts to dismantle drug trafficking networks and curb substance abuse across the country, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) says it arrested 77,859 suspected drug traffickers, including 240 identified drug barons, between January 2021 and December 2025.
The agency also seized 14.8 million kilogrammes of illicit drugs with an estimated street value of N480 billion during the period and secured the conviction of 14,122 offenders.
NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig.-Gen. Mohammed Marwa (retd.), disclosed this in Dutse, Jigawa State, yesterday, during the signing of two Executive Orders by Governor Umar Namadi aimed at strengthening the fight against drug abuse and promoting societal reorientation.
Marwa said the agency had intensified its offensive against drug trafficking syndicates, stressing that Nigeria would no longer serve as a transit route or operational base for international drug cartels.
He revealed that one of the agency’s recent major successes was the dismantling of a methamphetamine laboratory valued at about $362 million, leading to the arrest of three Mexican nationals and their Nigerian collaborators.
According to him, the NDLEA has also strengthened its treatment and rehabilitation programmes, with more than 50,000 people battling substance abuse receiving counselling and treatment at the agency’s 31 rehabilitation centres nationwide.
Marwa added that the agency’s War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaign has continued to deepen public awareness of the dangers of illicit drug use and the need for collective action.
Citing the 2018 National Drug Use Survey conducted by the Federal Government in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), he said drug use prevalence in the North-West stands at about 12 per cent, while Jigawa State records one of the lowest rates in the country at seven per cent.
He expressed confidence that the newly inaugurated state task force would help sustain the state’s low prevalence through intelligence gathering, community mobilisation and coordinated enforcement, with support from the NDLEA headquarters.
Governor Umar Namadi said the two Executive Orders establish a coordinated framework for addressing drug abuse through prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, enforcement and community mobilisation, while also promoting patriotism, discipline, respect for the rule of law and civic responsibility.
He urged parents, teachers, religious and traditional leaders, community groups and security agencies to work together to protect young people from drug abuse, stressing that sustained collaboration is essential to tackling the menace.
The Jigawa State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Abdulkadir Fanini, assured that the state government would prosecute anyone involved in the production, supply or distribution of illicit drugs.