The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has treated 53,843 people at its 31 rehabilitation facilities across Nigeria in five years, its Chairman, Brig Gen Buba Marwa (retd.), has disclosed, calling for increased funding for mental healthcare to address the psychological factors contributing to substance abuse.
Marwa said enforcement alone would not resolve Nigeria’s drug problem without greater investment in prevention, rehabilitation and accessible mental health services, warning that untreated depression and trauma often underlie cases of drug abuse.
He spoke on Tuesday at the fifth edition of The Conversation Conference, organised by Intersect Consortium at Nicon Luxury Hotel, Abuja, where he called for more psychiatrists, psychologists, counsellors and community health workers, as well as the integration of mental health services into primary healthcare.
Marwa, according to a statement by the Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said, “Behind that number are fathers returned to their families and young people returned to school and work,” Marwa said of the 53,843 people who had passed through the agency’s rehabilitation facilities in the past five years.
The NDLEA chairman warned that treating substance abuse without addressing underlying mental health problems risked leaving the causes unresolved.
“For too long, we treated mental health as a private burden, hidden behind shame and silence. In my work at the NDLEA, I see the cost of that silence daily.
“Behind many cases of drug abuse is untreated pain: depression nobody noticed, trauma nobody addressed, a young person who found a substance before finding help. Drug use and mental illness feed each other. If we only arrest the symptoms, we will keep missing the cause,” he said.
Marwa, who also chaired the first edition of the conference in 2022 and its third edition, said the latest gathering, held days after World Mental Health Day, presented an opportunity to move beyond awareness campaigns to practical action.
He argued that mental healthcare remained inadequately prioritised in public spending, despite its implications for productivity, family stability and community safety.
“Mental health cannot remain the poorest relation in our health budgets,” he said, adding that every naira spent on prevention, trained personnel and accessible treatment could yield wider social and economic benefits.
He called for mental health services to be integrated into primary healthcare facilities so that people could obtain treatment closer to their communities.
“We need more psychiatrists, psychologists, counsellors and community health workers. We need mental health integrated into primary healthcare so that no one travels hundreds of kilometres to be heard,” he said.
Marwa also called for equitable financing to ensure that treatment was not restricted to people who could afford private healthcare.
“Care that only the well-off can afford is not a system; it is a privilege,” he said.
Beyond clinical treatment, the NDLEA chief said poverty and hopelessness could expose communities to conditions that encourage drug abuse, arguing that prevention efforts should include economic opportunities for vulnerable households.
He cited the agency’s work in three pilot communities in Ondo State, where residents who had depended on illicit cultivation were supported to establish lawful livelihoods.
“Your theme speaks of strategic investments, partnerships and community-led action. At the NDLEA, these are not abstract ideas. They are things we have done. Mental wellbeing cannot thrive where hopelessness and poverty drive people into harm.
“In three pilot communities in Ondo State, we worked with the people themselves to build legitimate livelihoods, so that families who once depended on illicit cultivation could earn a dignified, lawful income,” he said.
He said the initiative had been developed with the communities rather than imposed on them, adding that the agency intended to expand the model nationwide and was seeking partners to support its implementation.
“When people have hope, income and a stake in their future, stress eases, families stabilise, and communities grow resilient,” Marwa said.
He also highlighted the NDLEA’s War Against Drug Abuse campaign, which targets young people in schools, tertiary institutions and communities, alongside the agency’s 24-hour toll-free helpline for people seeking assistance.
Marwa urged policymakers and service providers to pay particular attention to women, children and other vulnerable groups, including survivors of violence, displaced mothers, girls without support, persons with disabilities and families displaced by conflict.
He said the agency’s experience showed that recovery was more sustainable when support extended beyond the individual to the family.
The NDLEA chairman called for closer collaboration among the health, education, security, justice and social welfare sectors, saying no single institution could tackle the country’s mental health challenges alone.
Vice-President Kashim Shettima, who was represented at the conference by Senator Ibrahim Hadejia, was also commended by Marwa for supporting the gathering.
The NDLEA chief urged participants to commit to increased funding, the expansion of proven community-based interventions and improved support for women, children and vulnerable people.
“Let us build a Nigeria where seeking help is an act of courage, where recovery is possible, and where no one suffers alone,” he said.