By Innocent Odoh The Ministers of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the United Nations Office On Drugs and Crime (UNODC) have mapped out plans to tackle the menace of illicit drugs trafficking, drug abuse and organized crime in West Africa through a new action plan.
This was the focus of the ministerial conference of the regional bloc, which held in Abuja on Monday as part of the new action plan, which if adopted, could drastically reduce the debilitating menace of illicit drug trafficking, drug abuse and organized crimes.
Nigeria’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, who lamented the dangerous effects of drug trafficking, drug abuse and organized crimes, said during his opening remarks that the 2016 -2020 ECOWAS drug action plan to address the challenges has been presented to the technical experts and regional civil society organizations to review and recommend same to the ministers for adoption. “ It is therefore imperative that the new regional drug Action Plan is adopted by the ministers of ECOWAS member states to guide the fight against drug abuse, illicit drug trafficking and organized crimes,” he said.
He assured that Nigeria will continue to commit both human and material resources, within the limit of available funds to the fight against the menace adding that the Nigerian government as a means of improving the personnel capacity of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has approved the recruitment of 5,000 additional staff in 2016 and 10,000 more in 2017 in order to improve the nationwide presence of the agency. “We will continue to support the agency in order to achieve our dream of a drug-free society,” he said.
The President of the ECOWAS Commission, Marcel Alain De Souza, in his keynote address, noted that the region is increasingly exposed to all forms of trans-national organized crime, including illicit drug trafficking, which, he said contributes to drug use in the region with serious economic consequences on health, public safety, productivity, and governance.
Represented by the ECOWAS Vice President, Mr David Singhateh, the President said further that drug trafficking and consumption of illicit consumption of drugs has the ability to fuel other forms of crimes such as terrorism, corruption, the laundering of criminal assets and terrorism financing, which undermines development, peace and stability of West Africa.
He added that the ECOWAS members states and the United Nations Office On Drugs and Crime (UNODC), will intensify efforts to adopt the new action plan to tackle the issues.
The UNODC Executive Director, Mr. Turi Viktorovitch Fedotor, who was represented by the UNODC Country Representative in Nigeria, Cristina Albertin , in his remarks said UNODC having recorded the debilitating consequences of the drug crisis on West Africa will continue to assist ECOWAS to tame the crisis.
He said that UNODC welcomes ECOWAS engagement with the international community saying “we look forward to continuing our constructive cooperation with ECOWAS in order to support the strengthening of borders, building capacity of law enforcement and judicial institutions and enhancing drug prevention, treatment and care services within West Africa member states.”
