By Michael Nnebife
The State Commander, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Anambra State, Daniel Ogbonna Onyeisi, has decried the high rate of women involvement in hard drugs sales and abuse across the state.
The Commander made his feeling known on Tuesday 28th May while giving a weekly update of the Agency’s activities in a media programme in Awka recently.
Onyeisi said, ‘Last week, we were in Omogho, Nnewi and Onitsha axes, where we arrested many people with large quantities of cannabis sativa, methamphetamine, mkpulumiri, and all kinds of drugs.
‘Again, in White House, Nnewi, surprisingly, women involvement in this is quite disturbing; there, three women were arrested.
‘The number of women, mothers, who are getting involved in this, is increasing,’ Onyeisi said.
He however reiterated the Agency’s projection towards setting up a drug control committee in the state, the local government and the community levels in Anambra.
This, the NDLEA boss believed, would help the Agency to drive down and overcome the menace of illicit drug abuse which he described as a big challenge in today’s society.
Onyeisi enjoined community and religious leaders to see hard drugs sales and uses as crimes, but not as a business so that it would be easy for them to join hands with the Agency to get Anambra State and Nigeria rid of illicit drugs.
Noting that the fight against illicit drugs is a collective one, Onyeisi appealed to the general public to provide the Agency, information on how to get at the dens of the drug peddlers and users, through this line, 08121516366.
He assured that the Agency treated the confidentiality of an informant with absolute priority, saying that most of arrests the Agency had made originated from information from the public.
Onyeisi further expressed displeasure over the contribution of courts in the fight against illicit drugs in the state.
‘Short sentences in the courts which we explained last year all through disturb all of us.
‘Last year, we had 260 convictions, but I’m sure that only one person may still be in a prison now; every one of them still went back. How?
‘They got short sentences of one month, two months, three months, while the law says 15 years, and 25 years,’ the NDLEA helmsman said, describing the development as a handicap in the fight against illicit drugs.
‘These are problems we are facing. Although we have new judges, they are on top of the game.
‘The first two times we were in the courts, they showed that we were going to fight the war together,’ Onyeisi, said.
