The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Mohamed Marwa, has called for a strong national response and sustained support for the newly launched programme aimed at curbing illicit cannabis cultivation and strengthening national security.
Marwa made the call on Tuesday in Abuja, while addressing a press conference to mobilise support for the initiative, the first of its kind in Africa, which was piloted last week in three cannabis-producing communities of Ondo State.
The pilot scheme was launched in Ilu Abo, Ifon and Eleyewo, where Marwa said early results have shown that drug control can succeed when communities are actively engaged and economically empowered.
He said the alternative development model goes beyond simple crop substitution, offering broader socio-economic and security benefits.
The NDLEA boss listed these to include strengthening rural economies through agricultural value-chain development, reducing pressure on law enforcement and the justice system, promoting peace in crime-prone areas, boosting food production, and improving Nigeria’s global standing in drug control and development cooperation.
“This approach represents a win-win solution, for communities, for government, and for national security,” Marwa said.
“The successful take-off of the pilot scheme in Ondo State clearly demonstrates that alternative development works when communities are supported and empowered.”
He urged stakeholders across all levels of government, traditional institutions, donor agencies, the private sector, civil society organisations, and the media to rally behind the programme and ensure its sustainability.
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Marwa also called on communities involved in illicit drug cultivation to embrace the initiative, describing it as a people-centred intervention designed to provide lawful livelihoods, reduce poverty, and improve community safety.
Recounting the reception of the programme in Ondo State, the NDLEA boss said traditional rulers and community leaders in the pilot areas had expressed overwhelming support, noting that the initiative had renewed their confidence in government and offered farmers a dignified alternative to cannabis cultivation.
He said the programme directly tackles the root causes of drug production by replacing illicit crops with sustainable agricultural and economic opportunities, rather than relying solely on enforcement.
Marwa attributed the agency’s shift towards alternative development to what he described as Nigeria’s grim drug-use statistics.
Citing the 2018 national drug use survey conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics with support from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), he said about 14.3 million Nigerians aged between 15 and 64 had used at least one psychoactive substance in the past year, more than twice the global average.
He noted that cannabis remains the most widely used and cultivated illicit drug in Nigeria, with an estimated 10.6 million users nationwide.
He added that assessments in high-risk areas of the South-West showed nearly 8,900 hectares of land under cannabis cultivation, often linked to organised criminal networks.
“The social and public health implications are severe,” Marwa warned, pointing to youth addiction, lost productivity, crime, and growing pressure on the healthcare system.
He disclosed that over 75 percent of the 15 million kilogrammes of illicit drugs seized by the NDLEA in the past five years were cannabis.
Ondo State Governor, Lucky Ayedatiwa, and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security were also represented at the flag-off of the pilot scheme.
