The chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Buba Marwa, said the agency  seized 1.3 billion pills of tramadol and 4.4 million bottles of codeine between January 2024 and June 2025.

Mr Marwa disclosed this during a plenary session at the two-day interactive session on Tuesday in Kaduna.

“Between January 2024 and June 2025, we have seized over 4.4 million  bottles of codeine. We also seized 1.3 billion tablets of opium, also known as tramadol. A pill of Taramadol is now N1000. The street value of one billion pills can be close to one trillion naira. Imagine the kind of weapons terrorists or bandits can buy with that amount of money, or imagine one billion pills of tramadol in circulation,” he stated.

According to Mr Marwa, since Tinubu came into office in 2023, the agency has made seizures of 5,555 tonnes of illicit drugs, equivalent to 200 trailers.

He said, “Imagine 200 trailers of illegal substances on our streets. Also,we arrested 2000 drug traffickers, convicted 8,682, and rehabilitated over 24,000. We also go on advocacy to motor parks, schools, churches, mosques, markets, etc, to raise awareness about the dangers of drugs and substance abuse.”

On counselling and rehabilitation, the NDLEA boss explained that Tinubu had approved seven rehabilitation centres for the agency.

He added that the agency had 30 such centres in existence, but with the current addition of seven, it now has a total of 37 rehabilitation centres.

Mr Marwa said, “This means every state in the country will have one. Also, the President has approved one modern rehabilitation centre for each of the geopolitical zones of the country.”

He said the Renewed Hope Agenda of the president was fully on track and would also help to address the issues of drug and substance abuse.

“This is because it is packed with programmes and policies that will address idleness, poverty, and unemployment. We also want to commend the governments of Kwara and Kaduna for their proactive and pragmatic efforts in addressing drug and substance abuse in their states. We want other states to follow suit.

“Also, families should not wait for Tinubu to solve all the problems of drug abuse and NDLEA, hold your societies, and it starts with parenting, and from the family.

“We want drug and substance abuse to be included in the curriculum of primary schools in the country. Communities, traditional rulers, churches, and mosques should get involved in the fight against drug abuse,” Mr Marwa explained.

(NAN)