International and national partners rally support for NDLEA’s alternative development project

International partners and local stakeholders involved in the global fight against the scourge of illicit drug trafficking have indicated their willingness to support the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency’s Alternative Development Project. This initiative aims to encourage producers and dealers of illicit drugs to engage in legal and productive business opportunities.

They made these commitments in their remarks during the opening ceremony of a two-day workshop on ‘Building a Support Network for the Alternative Development Project in Nigeria’ organised by the Alternative Development Unit of NDLEA at the agency’s national headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday, August 28, 2024.

Speaking at the ceremony, the Chairman/CEO of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), explained the decision to embrace the ADP initiative. According to him, “In Nigeria, the Alternative Development Project will focus on reducing the vulnerabilities of ignorance, poverty, hunger, unemployment and underdevelopment that push people into illicit economies, particularly illicit drug cultivation. Apart from its link to transnational organized crime, illicit drug cultivation fuels national organized crime that is causing agricultural states to abandon food crops for cannabis plantations in some communities in the Southwest of Nigeria. We intend to reduce these vulnerabilities, both in urban centers and rural areas, through the provision of functional mechanisms and facilities for sensitization, skill acquisition, empowerment and positive engagement for sustainable livelihoods.

“As a diversified enterprise tailored to the different needs and interests of the people, the Alternative Development Project in Nigeria will focus on agricultural and community development, research and basic infrastructure, and industrial and commercial engagement. We will start with agricultural development through the crop substitution project. We will also focus on advocacy and education programs and establish mechanisms to monitor and evaluate project implementations, progress, impacts and challenges.”

He expressed his appreciation to the Global Partnership on Drug Policies and Development in Berlin, Germany, for providing a fully funded Alternative Development study tour to Thailand for some NDLEA officials. He also commended the contributions of the immediate past Country Representative of UNODC in Nigeria, Mr. Oliver Stolpe; Chief, Drugs, Laboratory and Scientific Services Branch of UNODC, Vienna, Dr. Justice Tettey; Ashnik Alternative Development Initiative, an NGO and other stakeholders who helped develop the framework for the birth of the Alternative Development unit of the Agency.
He called for more robust global support to ensure the project’s success.

In his remarks, Dr Tettey commended NDLEA for its pioneering work in the Alternative Development Initiative in Africa. He identified four critical elements needed for the success of the project: “a people-centred and responsive approach where people’s aspirations, inclusion and local ownership of AD programmes ensure meaningful participation of youth, women and local people in project design and implementation; a value-added and market access production chain that includes research-based identification of high-yielding marketable crops in harmony with the local environment and that satisfies both local and international markets.”

He noted that environmental considerations must be paramount in all alternative development efforts to ensure sustainability and ecosystem protection. He pledged UNODC support to ensure successful implementation.
Also in his remarks, Mr. Danilo Campisi, Officer-in-Charge, UNODC Country Office, Nigeria, stated that 8,900 hectares of cannabis farmland under cultivation in six states in Nigeria had allegedly been diverted to the production of legal crops. He condemned the recruitment of young men desperate to make a living in the communities by drug lords who exploit their vulnerabilities.

Earlier, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Agribusiness and Productivity Enhancement, Dr. Kingsley Uzoma, commended the NDLEA boss for the laudable initiative, noting that the Alternative Development project is in line with President Tinubu’s commitment to addressing the challenges of unemployment and youth and women empowerment by providing the tools and resources needed to engage in productive, legal agricultural activities, thereby preventing the vulnerable from engaging in illegal activities.

Others who spoke at the workshop included: Ms. Ana Medeiros, representing the Acting Chief of Mission of the United Nations International Organization for Migrants; Mr. Thierry Rostan, Global Coordinator, Alternative Development/Sustainable Livelihood Team, Vienna, Austria; Professor Bala Shehu of the Ashnik Alternative Development Initiative; Dr. Jonah Kolo, the Coordinator of the AD Project and Dr. Martin Agwogie, President, International Society of Substance Use Prevention and Treatment Professionals (ISSUP), Nigeria, and others.