Global, national partners rally support for NDLEA’s alternative development project

By Oluwakemi Kindness

International partners and local stakeholders in the global effort to combat the scourge of illicit drug trafficking have expressed their preparedness to support the Alternative Development Project of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.
The Alternative Development Project is an initiative aimed at encouraging illicit drug producers and dealers to engage in lawful and productive business opportunities.

They made the 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”, by the Alternative Development unit of NDLEA at the Agency’s National Headquarters in Abuja.
Speaking at the ceremony, NDLEA Chairman, retired Brigadier General, Mohamed Buba-Marwa explained that 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.

“Aside from its link to transnational organised crime, illicit drug cultivation fuels national organised crime that causes agricultural states to abandon food crop cultivation for cannabis plantations in some communities in Southwest Nigeria”.
According to a statement on Friday, by the NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi said it intend to reduce these vulnerabilities both in urban centres and rural areas through the provision of functional mechanisms and facilities for sensitisation, skills acquisition, empowerment and positive engagements for sustainable livelihoods.

“As a diversified enterprise tailored to meet various 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 engagements. We will begin with agricultural development through the crop substitution project. We will also focus on advocacy and education programmes and set up mechanisms to monitor and evaluate project implementations, progress, impacts and challenges.”

He expressed appreciation to the Global Partnership on Drug Policies and Development in Berlin, Germany for providing a fully funded Alternative Development study visit opportunity to Thailand for some NDLEA officers. He equally applauded the contributions of the immediate past Country Representative of UNODC in Nigeria, 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 assisted in developing the framework for the birth of the Alternative Development unit of the Agency.

He called for a more robust global support to ensure the success of the project.
In his remarks, Dr. Tettey commended NDLEA for blazing the trail in Alternative Development initiative in Africa. He identified four critical elements needed for the success of the project as: “people- centred and responsive approach where the aspirations of the people, inclusion and local ownership of AD programmes will ensure meaningful participation of youths, women and the locals in the project design and implementation; value added production chain and access to market which involves research- aided identification of high- yielding marketable crops in harmony with the local environment and equally satisfy local and international markets.”

Equally in his remarks, Danilo Campisi, Officer- in -Charge , UNODC Country Office, Nigeria, stated that 8,900 hectares of cannabis farmland being cultivated in six states in Nigeria would have been used for production of licit crops. He condemned the recruitment of young men who are desperate for livelihood in the communities by drug barons, 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 issues of unemployment, youth and women empowerment by providing tools and resources needed to engage in productive licit farming activities in order to prevent the vulnerable from engaging in unlawful activities.

Others who spoke at the workshop include; Ms. Ana Medeiros, who represented acting Chief of Mission, United Nations International Organisation on 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, among others.