Susan Abayomi
The Lagos State Security Trust Fund’s Campaign Against Crime, Cultism and Other Vices (LSSTF-CACCOV) has intensified collaboration with the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Lagos Strategic Command, to strengthen preventive measures against drug abuse and trafficking, particularly among young people and vulnerable communities.
The renewed partnership followed a courtesy visit by the LSSTF-CACCOV State Coordinator, Dr. Moses Oladimeji, to the NDLEA Lagos Strategic Headquarters in Ikoyi, where both sides discussed the need for a coordinated approach to addressing drug-related challenges in the state.
The engagement underscored the importance of combining enforcement with sustained public awareness, rehabilitation, community involvement and youth empowerment in tackling drug abuse and its associated social consequences.
Speaking during the visit, Oladimeji said the volume of narcotics seized and destroyed by the NDLEA demonstrated the scale of the challenge and the need for stakeholders to strengthen preventive interventions.
He recalled attending an NDLEA event where narcotics worth more than ₦3.1 billion were destroyed, describing the experience as a sobering reminder of the magnitude of drug trafficking and its implications for public safety.
“When you see the amount of drugs that was piled up to be burnt, you begin to ask yourself: where are these things coming from, and how are we going to solve this issue? It shows that this problem is a major one for us, and we have to address it,” he said.
Oladimeji noted that drug abuse has implications for insecurity, violent crime, cultism and the development of young people, stressing that efforts to address the problem must go beyond arrests and prosecution.
He called for greater investment in awareness campaigns and programmes capable of helping young people make healthier choices.
“If the issue of drugs can be tackled, then the issue of insecurity and crime will be reduced to the barest minimum. That is why we must take these messages to every nook and cranny—schools, campuses, communities, religious gathering, motor parks and other places where young people gather,” Oladimeji stated.
The LSSTF-CACCOV coordinator disclosed that since its establishment on February 28, the initiative had taken its preventive campaigns to institutions including Yaba College of Technology and the Federal College of Education (Technical), Akoka, reaching more than 3,000 students through sensitisation and engagement programmes.
According to him, LSSTF-CACCOV adopts a non-kinetic approach centred on empathy, education and meaningful engagement rather than condemnation.
He therefore called for deeper cooperation with the NDLEA, including the involvement of its personnel in LSSTF-CACCOV programmes and the use of successful rehabilitation experiences to encourage people struggling with substance abuse to seek professional help.
Oladimeji also proposed that individuals who had successfully overcome addiction through NDLEA-supported rehabilitation programmes should be identified and their recovery journeys documented and shared as part of joint advocacy initiatives.
He said such testimonies could be featured at LSSTF Town Hall Meetings and other public engagements to demonstrate that recovery is possible with appropriate support, professional care and commitment.
He added that documenting five or more successful recovery stories through a formal collaboration could help highlight the impact of rehabilitation programmes and encourage more people to seek assistance.
Responding, the Commander of the NDLEA Lagos Strategic Command, Assistant Commander General of Narcotics, ACGN Abubakar Liman Wali, welcomed the LSSTF-CACCOV delegation and explained the strategic importance of Lagos to the agency’s operations.
Wali said Lagos was upgraded from a state command to a strategic command because of its importance as Nigeria’s commercial hub and its network of seaports, airports and border routes through which illicit substances could enter the country.
“Looking at Lagos as the commercial hub, with a lot of seaports, airports and border ports, and the bulk of drugs coming through these routes, the Chairman, Brig. Gen. Mohammed Buba Marwa (retd), deemed it necessary to upgrade Lagos State to a Strategic Command headed by an Assistant Commander General of Narcotics,” he explained.
According to Wali, effectively addressing drug abuse and trafficking in Lagos would have significant implications for the country’s broader drug-control efforts.
“If we are able to solve the problem of drug abuse and trafficking in Lagos, almost 90 per cent of drug abuse in this country will be addressed,” he stated.
The NDLEA commander said the agency had also broadened its approach under the leadership of its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brigadier-General Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), to place greater emphasis on prevention, sensitisation and rehabilitation alongside enforcement.
He explained that the agency’s responsibilities covered both supply reduction through seizures, arrests and prosecution, and demand reduction through prevention, public education and recovery support.
“Before the coming of the present Chairman, what NDLEA had done was largely to arrest, prosecute and carry out enforcement activities. But now, we are into sensitisation, rehabilitation and prevention. That is the aspect he has given priority,” Wali said.
He stressed the importance of prevention, noting that early education could help reduce the financial and social costs associated with addiction.
“Prevention is less costly. When somebody becomes addicted, you will spend more. But with a little awareness, people can be educated about the implications of what they are taking,” he stated.
Wali also disclosed that the Lagos Strategic Command currently had six functional operational vehicles, three of which were provided through the Lagos State Security Trust Fund.
He appealed for continued institutional support to strengthen patrol operations, intelligence gathering and community-based interventions.
The commander further encouraged LSSTF-CACCOV to work with the NDLEA on campus security training and programmes involving school administrators, counsellors, psychologists and student-led advocacy clubs.
He observed that young people could be particularly receptive to preventive messages delivered by their peers.
Wali disclosed that each NDLEA area command in Lagos was expected to conduct at least 10 sensitisation programmes every month across schools, faith-based organisations, communities and marketplaces.
He also invited LSSTF-CACCOV officials to participate in the programmes, describing the collaboration as an opportunity for both organisations to combine expertise and extend their preventive interventions.
The meeting highlighted the need for a sustained, multi-sectoral response to drug abuse involving families, schools, religious organisations, communities, government agencies and civil society groups.
Such collaboration, the stakeholders noted, would support prevention, early intervention, rehabilitation and reintegration while helping to protect young people from the social and security consequences associated with substance abuse.
Other members of the NDLEA Lagos Strategic Command management team present at the meeting included the Deputy State Commander, CN James Akogwu Elayoni; Deputy Commander, Operations and Training, CN Adisa Bolaji Toyin; Deputy Commander, Administration and Logistics, DCN MS Abba; Assistant State Commander, Financial Investigation, DCN Ali Bulama; and Chief of Staff, ACN EE Ukpong.
Members of the LSSTF-CACCOV team in attendance included the Assistant State Coordinator, Mrs. Uzezi Akinwoleola; Head, Human Resources and Training, Prominence Promise; Head, Education, Advocacy and Empowerment, Joseph Akinwoleola; Head, Strategy, Digital Communication and Technology, Olugbogi Nathanael; and Head of Programmes and Outreaches, LSSTF-CACCOV, Meshole Emmanuel.
