…. As Marwa meets Alausa for collaboration on the war against substance abuse
Compulsory drug integrity tests for students of tertiary institutions and the review of the current secondary school curriculum to include drug education are part of agreements reached between the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency and the Federal Ministry of Education when the NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), led a delegation of his management team to a meeting with the Hon. Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Olatunji Alausa, in Abuja on Wednesday, 30th July 2025.
According to a press release on Wednesday, 30th July 2025, signed by the NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, Marwa had, during the meeting, commended the minister for his proactive approach to his job while highlighting the devastating effect of substance abuse on the country’s youthful population. He noted that the fight against illicit drugs is a fight for the souls of the Nigerian youth.
“The purpose of this visit is to seek collaboration with this esteemed ministry in our collective efforts towards drug control in Nigeria. Our focus will basically be on schools and educational institutions. There are millions of our children who are under the supervision of this ministry, and it’s very critical. The drug scourge, as we all know, is very high in Nigeria.
So, we’re actually fighting for the souls of our children. Now, we also know that drug use is exacerbating criminal activities. That is, the Boko Haram, the terrorism, the banditry, and so on.
“We know that without drugs, they wouldn’t be able to do what they are doing, because they wouldn’t do all these criminal activities in their right senses. So, in our own way, we are contributing to the fight against insecurity in the country. Now, through law enforcement action, we have continued to deal mortal blows to the drug cartels. We know that through the seizures, arrests, convictions, and asset forfeitures, we’re doing our best.
“Supported by President Bola Tinubu, within the last two years, we have made arrests of 40,887 criminal elements, gotten 8,682 convicted, and seized 5,507 metric tonnes of illicit drugs. In fact, from January last year to the present, opioids, mostly tramadol, that we have seized are in excess of one billion pills, which are worth more than N1 trillion.”
While stating that the president is also supporting the agency to build seven rehabilitation centres in addition to the existing 30 centres in NDLEA commands nationwide, Marwa noted that President Tinubu has also approved the construction of one model rehab centre in each of the geopolitical zones in the country.
He listed three key areas he wants the Ministry and NDLEA to collaborate on to effectively check the menace of substance abuse among Nigerian youths. According to him, “The first suggestion we have is for a review of the drug education curriculum in secondary schools. Even though we’re told of the existence of this in the past, because of the complexity of drugs, the dynamism of it, and the new psychoactive substances that have come to play, we feel that it is time to consider a review of this drug education curriculum.
“Another area we were thinking of suggesting is to introduce stand-alone drug abuse prevention programmes in schools, secondary schools. Not the curriculum this time, but programmes that stand on their own, lectures, competitions, involving the parents, and so on. And then the third area we were thinking of is to adopt a drug testing policy in tertiary institutions, because we want a policy to keep our campuses clean. Several vice chancellors have come on their own to seek both our guidance and participation in conducting drug tests for their students. So, what we are suggesting now is drug tests for new students, for students returning from vacations, and random tests. This will make the children avoid taking drugs, knowing fully well that if they do and they are found out, there will be consequences. And the consequences do not necessarily mean rustication.”
In his response, the minister commended Marwa for his steadfastness and commitment to the service of Nigeria. “Thank you for your service to Lagos. And beyond that, General Buba Marwa has committed his life to serving this country. Since I met him 30 years ago, he’s still been serving the country. And you could see the passion in the way that he laid out the problems in the country and what he wanted us to do. And as he was talking, I made a note, and it was as if I had seen his prepared comments. Thank you so much for making this visit.”
He noted that the drug scourge is a huge problem that must be tackled head-on.
“When the youths get into drugs, they won’t go to school, and even when they go to school, they are not getting a functional education. And at the end of the day, what happens? Their level of critical thinking is lower. Their ability to make informed decisions in the later part of their life becomes significantly reduced. So, they become unemployable. And what happens? You now have that vicious cycle. They’re not functional. They’re not useful to themselves. All they do is resort to criminality. Once you use drugs, you’re likely to have a dysfunctional family. So, it’s a huge menace that we need to tackle, and tackle very quickly.”
Talking about the areas of collaboration, the minister said, “I would suggest we form a technical working group, an inter-ministerial working group between our ministry and NDLEA.
As a result, I would also like to create a Substance Use Prevention Unit in the ministry
“We’re reviewing the curriculum now for secondary school. And that’s why I’ve asked the director of Senior Secondary School to come and be here, and then we’ll find a way to cascade it down to the primary school. But we need to get both primary school and secondary school and add this to their curriculum. But the one for secondary school, we can do that now. We’re just developing their new curriculum now.
“Also, on the stand-alone school programmes, I agree with you fully. We should also design ongoing programmes in our schools. That we can roll out and cascade down. You also said something very important about the drug test policy in tertiary institutions. We will do it.
We have to do it. We do not have a choice. At least, we’ll start with tertiary institutions, for their fresh and returning students as well as random testing.”
The minister also assured that two agencies under the ministry, UBEC and TETFUND, would partner with the NDLEA Academy in Jos as part of efforts to deepen drug education in basic, secondary, and tertiary institutions across the country.
Following the minister’s directive, the permanent secretary in the ministry, Mr. Abel Oluwamuyiwa Enitan, announced the takeoff of the new Substance Use Prevention Unit while giving the vote of thanks.
