The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have expressed concern over the growing loss of manpower and productivity among Nigerian youths due to substance abuse, warning that the trend poses a serious threat to national and regional development.
At a capacity-building workshop held in Lagos on Tuesday for Desk Officers of the Nigeria Epidemiology Network on Drug Use (NENDU) from the 37 NDLEA treatment centres nationwide, stakeholders emphasised the urgent need for credible data to tackle the crisis.
Director of Drug Demand Reduction at NDLEA, Dr Ngozi Madubuike, cited the 2018 National Drug Use Survey, which revealed that 14.3 million Nigerians were using psychoactive substances, excluding alcohol and tobacco, while 376,000 people had drug use disorders and were in contact with treatment centres.
“These are mostly young people between 25 and 39 years old,” she said. “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.”
Madubuike stressed that the economic consequences of drug abuse extend beyond lost productivity, noting that illicit drug trafficking also undermines legitimate business. “Drug trafficking affects local producers because traffickers conceal drugs in goods and sell them cheaper than genuine businessmen,” she added.
Head of the ECOWAS Drug Prevention and Control Division, Dr Daniel Amankwaah, underscored the role of reliable statistics in combating the problem. “Drug abuse is linked to terrorism, violence, and crime. If we reduce drug abuse, we will reduce these challenges,” he said. “The manpower loss alone is a major economic factor. We are losing young people with good brains who could have driven regional development.”
Amankwaah disclosed that ECOWAS would equip NDLEA centres with laptops, desktops, scanners, and photocopiers to improve data collection and reporting across the NENDU network.
NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (retd.), represented by Madubuike, emphasised that the NENDU system was vital for producing “timely and reliable data to inform drug prevention, treatment, and policy.”
“The quality of data you generate directly impacts national planning and policy,” Marwa noted, stressing the need for accuracy in a rapidly changing drug landscape.
Director of Humanitarian and Social Affairs at the ECOWAS Commission, Dr Sintiki Ugbe—represented by Amankwaah—explained that the workshop was designed to strengthen the technical capacity of NENDU focal points in data collection, 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 stated. She revealed that similar training for non-NDLEA treatment facilities, particularly those under the Federal Ministry of Health, would be held in 2026.
Both NDLEA and ECOWAS urged the Desk Officers to take ownership of the NENDU system and ensure the credibility of the data generated, warning that the quality of national and regional responses depends heavily on it.
