Reps set to grant NDLEA full autonomy

By Bimbo Ogunnaike

The House of Representatives has revealed its plan to promulgate laws that will give the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) an autonomy, as a full fledged agency.

The agency is currently under the Federal Ministry of Justice, being overseen by the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF).

But the House Committee on Drugs and Narcotics, at its inaugural meeting on Monday, frowned at the marriage of the NDLEA under the Justice Ministry, saying, it was responsible for the low budgetary funding, which also caused low performance of the agency, over the year.

Chairman of the Committee, Francis Ottah Agbo, speaking at the opening session of the committee, also said the agency is carrying out its operations on proceeds from charity and fighting drugs criminals with outdated weapons.

Agbo, who tasked members of his committee on commitment to drug abuse eradication, regretted that the NDLEA was incapacitated by poor funding.

“If we do our job very well as members of this very important committee, we will be salvaging this country, because almost every crime in this country – call it Boko Haram, kidnapping, cultism, bunkering, armed robbery, etc, are drug-induced.

“But unfortunately, the NDLEA completely survives on charity, so there is little or nothing they can do. So, we must do our best to have an NDLEA that is positioned to fight drug abuse,” the lawmaker said.

“This is an agency that was set up in 1989, but after 30 years, nothing has changed. Because the agency that was established to prosecute drug users, is completely underfunded. It is appalling to note that, Nigeria has only 8 sniffer dogs, which were supplied to us by Germans. Another problem is that, the agency has not recruited properly since 1989, ”he added.

“So, we (law