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Written by Naijatalk Nigeria

drugs Nigeria has been delisted from major drug trafficking countries by the United States of America, following the reduction in volume of illicit drugs that enter or leave the country in the past few years. The country representative of the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime, Oliver Stople, made this revelation.

Mr Stople, who spoke at the weekend in Abuja during the launch of the 2011 world drug report, said drug production is equally declining.

“I commend Nigerian government for the removal of Nigeria from the US government list of major drug trafficking countries,” he said. “This action confirms Nigeria’s strong commitment to the fight against illicit drugs.” He said seizures of cannabis herbs in Africa for example have fluctuated considerably in recent years.

“The decline is partly due to a significant drop in Nigeria. In 2007 and 2008, the largest annual seizures of cannabis herbs in Africa were reported by Nigeria. However, in 2009 seizures in this country fell by almost two thirds.

Nigeria also reported a notable increase in farmgate price of cannabis. Both the decline in seizures and the increase in price were attributed to the destruction of cannabis farms by law enforcement in Nigeria.” For heroin, Mr Stople noted that in 2009, 104 kilogrammes of heroin were seized in Nigeria. This represents a sharp increase from 2008 level of 12 kilogrammes but seizures were already high in 2007, up to 121 kilogrammes.

Reports, according to him suggests that Nigeria may serve as a transit point for limited quantities of heroine destined for consumer markets in other countries.

No survey on drug use

The UNODC representative claimed that Nigeria has about 500,000 consumers of cannabis; but Ahmadu Giade, chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said there is no national drug use survey yet and that the large population of the country is also a factor.

Mr Giade said although Nigeria has not conducted national drug use survey because of inadequate funding, government has intensified fight against illicit drugs.

“Our drug control policies have been successful based on the twin approaches of drugs supply control and drug demand reduction,” he said. “By this, we identify cannabis farms and destroy them before harvest. We trace and seize drugs in clandestine warehouses and intercept others in the process of smuggling. The effective control measures at the airports, seaports and land borders have been largely responsible for Nigeria’s rising drug control status.”

Source: Next