Senate Faults NDLEA’s Request to Send Personnel to Nigerian Missions Abroad, Gives Key Reason
- The federal agency in charge of drugs law enforcement, NDLEA, wants to have drug attachés in Nigerian missions abroad
- However, the Senate has also faulted the request which was made during a public hearing organised at the National Assembly on Thursday, March 25
- The Red Chamber said Nigeria may not be able to bear the financial burden that will come with such a move
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The Senate has faulted the request by the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency to send its personnel to Nigerian missions abroad as drug attachés.
The Punch reported that the NDLEA made the request on Thursday, March 25, in its presentation at a one-day public hearing organised by the Senate Committee on Drugs and Narcotics on a bill to amend the National Drugs Law Enforcement Act.
The director-general/secretary of the NDLEA, Shadrach Haruna, advocated an amendment of Section 45 of the drugs law enforcement act to empower the agency to appoint drug attachés to any country of choice in consultation with the Ministry of Foreign affairs.
Source: Twitter
However, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Ibrahim Oloriegbe, who represented the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, said the nation might not be able to afford a drug attaché in its foreign missions.
Oloriegbe said:
“Do you know the cost implication of that vis a vis the load of work and then the relevance of that in all our missions abroad?
“Now, even the staff that we have who are the core staff, there are challenges in terms of payments.
“What you are trying to do is to create another corps that would be on drug desks in other countries and they will be a drain on national resources.”
Responding to Oloriegbe’s concerns, the NDLEA DG said some country really required the assistance of drug attachés, Nigerian Tribune also reported.
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In other news, the chairman and chief executive officer of the NDLEA, Buba Marwa has recommended integrity drug tests for students and politicians.
Marwa said the recommendation was necessary to ensure that people aspiring for public offices are not involved in drugs.
The NDLEA boss raised concerns over the rise of drug scourge Nigeria, adding that the data available shows that one in seven Nigerians takes drugs.
Source: Legit.ng
