The Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes, Hon. Jagaba Adams Jagaba yesterday said that acts of militancy, terrorism and crimes could be checked through the control of illicit drugs.
He stated this during a visit to the National Drug Law? Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) office at Ikoyi, Lagos, adding that poor funding was the reason NDLEA has not performed optimally.
He said, “acts of militancy, terrorism, armed robbery and violent crimes are rooted in drug abuse. If we must fight crime in this country, we need to control drugs. If we must control drugs, NDLEA must be funded by the Federal Government.”
Lamenting the poor state of infrastructure in the anti-narcotic agency, Jagaba called on the federal government to as a matter of urgency, intervene in the poor funding situation which NDLEA is being confronted with.
He said: “We are here on oversight assignment but there is no work for us because of lack of funds. In this year’s budget N100 million was approved for the NDLEA out of which only N18.7 million has been released. Nothing could be done with the money released because the deficit of the previous year is about N23 million.