EU, UN Unite Against Drug Trafficking In Nigeria

Simon Ateba

The European Union, EU, and the United Nations, UN, will continue to support the fight against drug trafficking and consumption in Nigeria, senior officials pledged on Wednesday.

Michel Arion, EU Ambassador, and Mariam Sissoko, the country representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, UNODC, met with Ahmadu Giade, Nigeria’s anti-drug trafficking boss in Lagos and pledged continued cooperation and support on three levels.

On global level, Arion said, the focus will remain on countries of origin, transit and destination with emphasis on interdiction and deterrent, while on regional and national level, EU and UN will continue to support ECOWAS member states with training, policies and awareness generation.

At inter-continental level, Arion said EU finances a number of projects as part of cocaine route programme.

The Cocaine Route programme with a budget of over 30 million Euros, covers 36 countries of which half are in Africa, essentially West-Africa, five in the Caribbean countries and the remaining in Latin and Central America.

The EU is implementing a project in Nigeria known as Response to Drugs and Related Organised Crime (NGAV 16), while the UNODC is providing technical support for the project.

Arion dismissed insinuations that Nigeria is only a transit country because of drug-hungry Europe and America, saying that a substantial amount of drugs is consumed by Nigerians.

“It’s not just a matter of demand,” he said, “sometimes, supply creates demand.”

UNODC country representative Sissoko said her office is assisting the NDLEA progress towards an intelligence-led organisation equipped to deal with the challenges of the ever changing drug industry.

She announced that the EU has provided 100 desktop computers for NDLEA for the smooth takeoff of a Data Exchange Centre.

This, she said, will help to establish an evidence based approach in addressing the challenges of illicit drugs in the country.

“We commend the Chairman and senior management of the NDLEA for decisively embarking on the change management process that is required to strengthen the intelligence-based response of NDLEA to drug matters,” she said.

NDLEA boss Giade said regional and   international cooperations are vital to global success against drug trafficking and consumption.

“Drug trafficking like terrorism and arms smuggling represents a growing threat to global peace and security,” he said.

Giade said full implementation of NGAV 16 will help Nigeria address issues relating to drug control and demand.

“It will also tackle health challenges and other drug related crimes such as money laundering,” Giade said.

He announced that as part of the project NGAV 16, the National Drug Control Master Plan (NDCMP) 2015-2019, a policy document for drug control in Nigeria is almost finalised.

“This master plan contains new ideas and new control approaches which will be implemented in the next four years,” Giade said.

Giade noted that having a quantitative and a qualitative data, which the EU is developing in Nigeria, is of great importance to effective narcotic control.

The Director General of the NDLEA Roli Bode George, who gave details of NGAV 16  implementation in Nigeria, said everything was being put in place not to duplicate efforts at different levels.

“It’s a new different approach,” she said.

Culled from www.pmnewsnigeria.com