Nigeria’s drug trafficking and consumption is spiraling out of control, as it has emerged that the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency seized cannabis and cocaine with a street value of $3.8 billion and $68.17 million respectively in the last 10 years.
Conversely, cannabis has a street value of $68.4 per gram in Japan for example, $110.0 per gram in the United Arab Emirates and as much as $22.1 per gram in Singapore.
Documents made available to THISDAY by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency revealed that every year, more drugs are trafficked and more persons got involved in the illegal business.
Those arrested in that year were 7, 510 males and 542 females, making a total of 8052.
In 2013, the agency seized cannabis worth, 205, 373, cocaine, 290.20, heroin, 24.53, others 134, 280.38 and total was 339, 968.11.
An NDLEA official who spoke to THISDAY said that although the agency is doing a lot to curb drug trafficking, the progressive increase in the volume of drugs and the number of persons arrested seem as if the agency is not doing enough.
They are not funding the agency well and this is tempting because every day the NDLEA officials come across the drug traffickers.
He also stated, “We have recruited more personnel to increase our size to enable us go into the local governments so that each local government will eventually have its own special command.