NDLEA BOSS

Nigeria faces depleted workforce if drug abuse is unchecked.

Nigeria may face depleted workforce if drug abuse is not properly checked, the Chairman, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Ahmadu Giade, said on Tuesday in Lagos.
Giade told a meeting of stakeholders on the 2011 International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Drug Trafficking that drug abuse posed a serious threat to national development.
The UN has set aside June 26 for the annual observance of the day worldwide.
Giade, who was represented by the Director-General of the agency, Femi Ajayi, noted that the youth constituted a large percentage of the nation’s workforce and should be protected from drugs.
Noting that the cost of treating the ill-heath associated with drugs was high, Giade urged stakeholders to help the agency to educate Nigerians on the dangers of drug menace.
The NDLEA’s Director of Drug Demand Reduction, Lawrence Opara, reiterated the agency’s commitment to the drug war.
He said the agency was planning a national quiz competition for secondary school students as part of the strategies to sustain the campaign against drug abuse.
On the prescribed punishment for convicted drug offenders, Opara said the NDLEA Act recommended up to 25 years imprisonment, but that judges had the discretion to impose a lesser sentence.