The governor made the call when he received the Chairman and Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen, Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd) who paid him a courtesy visit yesterday while on familiarisation and assessment tour of the state command of the agency.
Fintiri, who lauded President Muhammadu Buhari for appointing Marwa to lead the war against drug abuse, promised to continue to support the crusade by building a rehabilitation centre for the NDLEA and creating drug control committees in all the 21 local government areas of the state.
“There can’t be any better time than now for governments at all levels to join hands with NDLEA and get involved in the war to kill the menace of drug abuse, otherwise the scourge will destroy the country.
“This is because all crimes, ranging from insurgency to banditry, kidnapping, rape and others, thrive on drug abuse. This means NDLEA is very central to the survival of the country, and as such, I appeal to President Buhari for appropriate funding of the agency so that it can function appropriately.”
Speaking earlier, Marwa commended the governor for his support for the state command and pleaded for more because of the enormity of the problem.
“In the last six weeks, we have been able to seize over N60 billion worth of drugs across the country, this is huge. The recent seizure of over 230 tons of cannabis in Edo State alone is the largest in the history of NDLEA and this has been made possible by renewed commitment of our personnel”, he stated.
Addressing leaders of the Muslim Council of Adamawa State after leaving the Government House, Marwa told them: “Unless we take drastic steps against drug abuse, the scourge is capable of destroying our country. And because we have no other country other than Nigeria, we need the support of our religious leaders to prevent our youths and women from getting into drugs.
“We need you, in your sermons, lectures to talk to our people while we continue to do our best to cut drug supply, ensure demand reduction through preventive strategies”, he added.
In his response, Chairman of the council, Malam Gambo Jika, said given the damage drug is doing in North America, Nigeria could not afford to wait till the situation gets worse.
