By Joy Odor Reportcircle News story
Nigeria’s anti-narcotics war is running on fumes.
The National Assembly Joint Committee on Drugs and Narcotics has raised a red flag over the non-release of capital funds to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in 2025, warning that chronic underfunding threatens to cripple an institution lawmakers describe as central to the country’s security architecture.
The alarm was sounded on Thursday after the committee reviewed the agency’s 2026 budget proposal and scrutinised its 2025 performance.
Zero Capital, Rising Crisis
Following a presentation by NDLEA Secretary, Shadrach Haruna, lawmakers identified what they called glaring financial shortfalls including the absence of capital releases this year despite rising cases of drug abuse and mounting evidence linking narcotics to violent crime.
The Committee, Chaired by Senator Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo and co-chaired by Hon. Abass Aboworin Adigun, retreated into a closed-door session before emerging with a blunt message: the NDLEA is structurally underfunded and dangerously overstretched.
“This agency ought to be among the top five institutions receiving serious national attention,” Adigun told journalists. “At least 50 percent of the insecurity in our country is linked to drug abuse. If we fail to act decisively now, in the next 10 years the crisis could spiral out of control.”
14,000 Officers, 200 Million People
Lawmakers revealed that the NDLEA operates with fewer than 14,000 personnel nationwide, a ratio analysts describe as grossly inadequate for a country of over 200 million people.
In some states, commands reportedly function with as few as three operational vehicles.
For an agency tasked with dismantling trafficking networks, destroying illicit farms, prosecuting offenders, and running nationwide drug demand reduction campaigns, the numbers expose deep structural fragility.
Funding Reform Stalled
The committee also revisited a controversial funding reform proposal, an amendment bill seeking to allocate 2 percent of the cost of collection from selected revenue-generating agencies to the NDLEA.
The bill, modelled after funding structures available to agencies such as the Nigeria Customs Service, was declined presidential assent.
“We recommended just 2 percent of cost of collection to support their operations, but it was withheld,” Adigun said. “We will continue to appeal for reconsideration.”
Several lawmakers went further, advocating that the NDLEA be placed on first-line charge, a move that would grant the agency direct statutory funding from the Federation Account and shield it from annual budgetary volatility.
Senator Baba Njide Husseini cited a United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) survey showing that 14.4 percent of Nigerians are affected by drug and substance abuse, nearly three times the global average.
“That figure is from 2018,” he noted. “How can such a critical agency function effectively without capital releases? Drug abuse has filtered into families. Women and children are increasingly involved. Most violent crimes today have links to substance abuse.”
Haruna acknowledged that the prevalence rate may have worsened but disclosed that the agency lacks resources to conduct a fresh nationwide assessment.
Despite funding constraints, the NDLEA reported significant operational outcomes within the review period.
Haruna disclosed that narcotics valued at approximately ₦550 billion were seized, while 640 hectares of illicit cannabis farms were destroyed across various states.
He also pointed to expanded collaboration with international partners, including the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), particularly in covert operations and financial intelligence investigations targeting drug-financing networks.
The agency, he added, has established a dedicated Drug Demand Reduction Department to intensify sensitisation campaigns in schools, religious institutions and grassroots communities.
Lawmakers, however, expressed dissatisfaction with infrastructure deficits observed during oversight visits, including projects inspected in Jos.
They also demanded clarity on NDLEA’s coordination with regulatory bodies such as the Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria to curb the abuse of prescription drugs, notably tramadol and benzodiazepines, substances increasingly implicated in youth addiction and criminal activity.
Haruna stressed the “clear nexus” between drug trafficking and banditry, terrorism and other violent crimes, revealing that large quantities of narcotics have been recovered from criminal hideouts during joint security operations.
“The fight against drugs is not separate from the fight against insecurity,” he said.
On the rejected 2 percent cost-of-collection proposal, Haruna explained that the decision was anchored on provisions of the Proceeds of Crime Act.
Nonetheless, he urged lawmakers to explore alternative intervention frameworks potentially mirroring the Police Trust Fund to guarantee sustainable financing.
The Joint Committee is expected to continue deliberations in subsequent sessions, weighing statutory funding models and emergency appropriations.
For lawmakers, the warning is stark: without immediate financial reinforcement, Nigeria’s drug war risks becoming a symbolic battle waged against a growing epidemic with shrinking ammunition.
As the 2026 budget cycle unfolds, the NDLEA’s funding fate may test whether the country views drug abuse as a peripheral social issue or as the ticking security time bomb legislators now insist it has become.
