NDLEA Seeks Stiffer Penalties For Drug Offences

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on Friday advocated stiffer penalties for drug offences to deter couriers.

Mr Alfred Adewumi, the NDLEA Commander in Akwa Ibom, said this at a drug-free counselling clinic in Eket, Akwa Ibom.

He said that the agency was seeking a review of relevant laws to deter drug traffickers and dealers.

Adewumi expressed regrets that the existing laws were too lenient and often allowed drug dealers to serve short prison sentences and return to the illicit trade.

He noted that Nigeria had transformed from a transit country to a user country with adverse consequences on the larger society.

The NDLEA Commander noted that countries with stiff penalties, such as Malaysia, recorded fewer cases of drug offences.

“We need stiffer penalties and we can only get this by seeking the review or existing laws which give a lot of discretionary powers to judges to pass mild sentences for some drug offences.

“NDLEA can only arrest offenders and charge them to court; it is the courts that determines to free or jail offenders.

“So when a judge gives a short jail term to a convict we have no control over that.

“But if the law is reviewed then drug barons would be kept out of circulation for a long time and the society is better for it,” he said.

Adewumi said that the agency would ensure that the new law would ensure that assets acquired with drug proceeds were forfeited to the Federal Government.

Delivering a lecture on the menace of drugs in Nigeria, Mr Chris Owoeye, the Area Commander of NDLEA in Oron, said that the effect of drug was extensive.

He said it touched on every aspect of the society and expressed regrets that involvement of Nigerians in drug trafficking had tarnished the image of the country.

Owoeye urged members of the public to play a complementary role and join forces with NDLEA in the war against drug use, trafficking and cultivation.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the drug-free symposium sponsored by Mobil Producing Nigeria was attended by community leaders, clerics and transport workers’ union.