The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) says its 2024 drug report has revealed that 90 per cent of tramadol seized globally in the past five years occurred in Africa.

The UNODC country representative, Oliver Stolpe, disclosed this on Wednesday at the commemoration of the 2024 International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Drug Trafficking in Abuja.

The theme of the event, which is titled “ The Evidence is Clear: Invest in Prevention’’ was organised by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in collaboration with the UNODC and the MTN Foundation.

Mr Stolpe said the African continent was a major transit point and urged Nigeria to invest more in prevention and access to healthcare.

“More than 90 per cent of tramadol seizures over the past five years worldwide were seized in Africa, predominantly West Africa.

“To reduce the evidence here, Nigeria needs to invest more in prevention with some concentration on youths and women.’’

He advised the government to include all public and private secondary schools in its programme against drug abuse.

“The programme should be for all government and private secondary schools and out-of-school children. We need to sensitise people on the ability to recognise drug use sufferers and help them.

“And the health sector needs response require fundamental upgrade because access remains a major challenge.”

He said the UNODC 2024 drug report shows that 292 million or 5.6 per cent of the world population aged between 15 and 64 used drugs in the past year.

“That’s 20 per cent increase over the past ten years, while cannabis remains the main drug used and trafficked in Africa, with West Africa as one of the major entry points in Africa.

“The continent continues to be used as a transit area for drugs such as cocaine, heroin, etc. Drugs trafficked to Africa continue to penetrate the local market.

“It is adding to the health challenges already faced in nations where cannabis is used. Tramadol used medically is illicitly manufactured and it is being used illicitly more than the one medically manufactured.”

In his remarks, chairman of the NDLEA, Retired Brig.-Gen. Buba Marwa, said the agency’s passion for prevention was due to evidence-based results.

“The imperative to invest in prevention is dictated by evidence-based results that have shown prevention is far more cost-effective than dealing with the consequences of drug use disorder.

“At NDLEA, drug use prevention lies at the heart of our strategy in addressing the drug problem as it is far more effective and cost-efficient to prevent drug abuse than to deal with its consequences.

“As part of the reforms being undertaken in the Agency in the last three years, with the support of the Federal Government and various stakeholders, we have invested in prevention programmes.

“The magnitude of our effort is reflected in the statistics of our drug supply reduction activities. We have arrested 52,901 drug traffickers, including 48 barons, in three and half years.”

Mr Marwa said over 9,000 suspects have been convicted in court.

“We have also seized over the same periods 7.6 million kilograms of assorted illicit substances,” he said.

In his remarks, the chairman MTN foundation, Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi, said MTN saw the need to assist government in some areas and decided to collaborate.

Mr Adelusi-Adeluyi said that in the past 20 years, the foundation had expended N30 billion in different programmes and projects within the country.

“Mtn foundation is 20 years this year and right from the start, we made up our mind that Nigeria as a government cannot satisfy the needs of all Nigerians and therefore, well-meaning Nigerians and corporate bodies should get to see how they can assist.

“In view of that, the MTN has made tremendous impact in areas of education, health, economic empowerment, and some other special projects.

“In fact, the MTN Foundation has expended more than N30 billion in the process.

“We at the board got together and said to ourselves, while these programmes are going on, we must focus on the youths because they hold a very special demographic in the affairs of our nation.

“We did our research and found out that as long as the younger generation does not have something to do, something to love, and something to hope for, they will be subject to negative distraction.

“One of these distractions we identified as substance abuse is why we started the Anti-Substance Abuse Programme (ASAP).

“In the area of advocacy, we have done programmes for schools across the nation, with 6,400 students and over 1,400 teachers in 140 public schools.

“The programme was done in 12 states, and as part of awareness creation, we organised a quiz competition,” he said.

 (NAN)