The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have raised alarm over the rising cases of substance abuse in Nigeria, warning that the crisis is robbing the country and the region of valuable manpower and slowing economic growth.
Both organisations made the call in Lagos on Tuesday during a capacity-building workshop for Desk Officers of the Nigeria Epidemiology Network on Drug Use (NENDU) from the 37 NDLEA treatment centres nationwide.
Speaking at the event, NDLEA’s Director of Drug Demand Reduction, Dr Ngozi Madubuike, said findings from the 2018 National Drug Use Survey showed that 14.3 million Nigerians were consuming psychoactive substances, excluding alcohol and tobacco. She noted that 376,000 of them had drug use disorders and were receiving attention from treatment centres.
“These are mostly young people between 25 and 39 years old,” Madubuike explained. “When such people are on drugs, it affects everything that has to do with the nation. They are in their productive years, and when they are not productive, it impacts the economy.”
She warned that the situation could worsen if urgent action was not taken, stressing that drug abuse leads to lower productivity, mental and physical health problems, and increased social vices.
“When you have low productivity from young people, or they have health issues, or engage in crime, they won’t be productive. It will affect the economy. Drug trafficking also hurts local producers because traffickers conceal drugs in goods and sell them cheaper than genuine businessmen,” she added.
ECOWAS Head of Drug Prevention and Control Division, Dr Daniel Amankwaah, also emphasised the urgent need for accurate and timely data to combat drug abuse in West Africa. He explained that the West African Epidemiology Network on Drug Use relies heavily on national data from NENDU to monitor drug trends, new substances, and their impact.
“Drug abuse is linked to terrorism, violence, and crime. If we reduce drug abuse, we will reduce these challenges. The manpower loss alone is a major economic factor. We are losing young people with good brains who could have driven regional development,” Amankwaah said.
He announced that ECOWAS would provide laptops, desktops, scanners, and photocopiers to NDLEA centres to improve data collection and transmission efficiency.
NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Brigadier General Buba Marwa (Retd.), represented by Dr Madubuike, said the NENDU system plays a critical role in producing reliable data to guide drug prevention, treatment, and policy-making.
“In a rapidly evolving drug landscape, the need for timely, accurate, and actionable data has never been more critical. The quality of data you generate directly impacts national planning and policy,” Marwa said.
Director of Humanitarian and Social Affairs at the ECOWAS Commission, Dr Sintiki Ugbe, represented by Amankwaah, said the training aimed to boost the technical skills of NENDU focal points in data gathering, validation, and analysis.
“Reliable and up-to-date data are vital to guide policy and evidence-based programming. The stronger the member states’ drug data collection system, the stronger the regional data will be,” Ugbe noted.
She revealed that while the 2025 training focused on NDLEA treatment centres, a similar programme in 2026 would cover other drug treatment facilities, especially those under the Federal Ministry of Health.
Both NDLEA and ECOWAS urged the Desk Officers to take ownership of the NENDU platform and ensure the integrity of the data being generated, stressing that the success of both national and regional drug control strategies depended on it.
