The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) says it has counselled and rehabilitated more than 54,000 drug addicts over the past five years.

NDLEA’s chairman, Buba Marwa, disclosed this on Friday in Benin at the second Regimental Sergeant Majors’ convention.

Mr Marwa, who restated that substance dependence was a treatable health condition requiring intervention and support, urged the Nigerian Army to strengthen efforts to prevent drug abuse among its personnel.

According to him, drug dependence should not automatically be treated as a moral failure or grounds for discarding affected personnel.

He stressed the need to balance discipline with appropriate treatment.

“A drug user is not automatically a criminal to be thrown away. In many cases, he is a sick man who needs help,” he said.

Mr Marwa said the NDLEA’s rehabilitation efforts formed part of a broader response to the country’s drug problem, which also involved enforcement, prevention and public sensitisation.

He cited the 2018 National Drug Use Survey, which estimated that 14.3 million Nigerians aged between 15 and 64 had used drugs in 2017, representing 14.4 per cent of the population.

He said drug-use prevalence in Lagos was 33 per cent, underscoring the scale of the challenge confronting the country.

The NDLEA chairman disclosed that the agency had arrested more than 76,000 suspects, including 250 drug barons, in the past five years. He added that it seized more than 16 million kilogrammes of illicit substances, destroyed over 2,000 hectares of cannabis farms and secured 16,691 convictions within the period.

Mr Marwa said substance misuse posed a serious threat to the Nigerian Army’s combat readiness, discipline and operational effectiveness. He explained that drugs could impair soldiers’ judgement and trigger aggression, paranoia and delusion, potentially endangering colleagues and civilians during military operations.

He warned that substance misuse could also result in absenteeism, indiscipline, theft of military property and weakened unit cohesion.

“Combat requires reliability. One unreliable man can lead to the loss of lives of 10 men or more,” he said.

Mr Marwa identified RSMs as critical to preventing drug abuse within military formations, describing them as the conscience of their units and a vital link between soldiers and commanding officers.

Mr Marwa also urged military authorities to distinguish between drug trafficking and substance dependence, saying traffickers should face the law while personnel struggling with addiction should be assessed for treatment.

He said the circumstances of each case should be considered, including whether a wounded soldier had become dependent on pain medication.

(NAN)