Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike says the State Government will
work with the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to set up a
Drug Rehabilitation Centre in the State.
Governor Wike gave the assurance when he received on courtesy visit the
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA Brigadier General
Mohammed Buba Marwa (rtd) at Government House, Port Harcourt on Tuesday.
The Rivers State Governor said, often, people think that the fight
against criminality in the country should be targeted only at bandits
and kidnappers with less attention paid to root causes of such crimes,
which is the use of illicit drugs.
Governor Wike stated that if concerted efforts are made towards
achieving a reduction in the level of illicit drug intake in the
society, there is the possibility that crime rate will also reduce.
“It’s most unfortunate that people think that fighting crime is only
when you fight bandits, and kidnappers. But, nobody wants to understand
the root cause of most of these crimes.
The governor stated that those who engage in criminal acts such as rape
and kidnapping, often do so under the influence of illicit hard drug.
According to him, if conscientious effort is made to reduce the level of
intake of illicit drug in the society, it will also lead to reduction
in the crime rate.
Governor Wike pointed out the need to look at the fight against
criminality holistically across the country with equal attention given
to both drug influence and the crime perpetrators.
“Any government worth its salt would not hesitate to support the agency
in order to tackle the issue of drug.
“For choosing Rivers State first as your first point of call shows how
you take the State, and remembering that this is where your career
started after your graduation from the Nigeria Defence Academy (NDA).
“As for the rehabilitation centre, we will work that out with the
Commander in the State, to see how we can set up a Drug Rehabilitation
Centre in the state. We will also give you three Hilux Vans immediately
to enhance performance of the agency.”
Governor Wike decried the state of most institutions and agencies
established by the Federal Government that are not provided with
requisite working tools to enable them to perform their statutory
functions.
According to him, when such institutions and agencies do not have the
basic tools, there is no magic to be done by them in achieving the
mandate for which they were established.
In his speech, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of National
Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Brigadier General Mohammed Buba
Marwa (rtd.) said after he assumed office five weeks ago, the agency had
gone all out to deal with the reduction of drugs supply across the
country.
He stated that there is too much criminality in Nigeria with insurgency,
banditry, kidnapping and rape being caused by perpetrators under the use
of drugs.
“Behind most of this criminality is the use of drugs. Unfortunately,
this is one thing that does not distinguished between communities,
ethnicity, religion, age or gender.
“The prevalence in Rivers State, actually, is 15 percent. That is from
the drug survey of the UNODC that was released recently. But it is not
the worse, in fact, it is placed 14 in the country.
“But a state like Lagos has a prevalence of 33 percent. That, actually,
means one out of every three Lagosians between the ages of 15 and 64 is
taking something. That is terrible for a country such as ours. Concerted
efforts are required to deal with it.”
He appealed to the Governor to consider setting up a drug Rehabilitation
center and a State drug control committee.
In fulfilment of the Rivers State Governor’s pledge to enhance the
operational capability of the State command of the NDLEA, the Chief of
Staff Government House, Engineer Emeka Woke, on behalf of the governor,
presented three brand new Hilux Vans to NDLEA Chairman.