The Chairman, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, retired, Brig.-Gen. Buba Marwa has said that drug use and mental illness feed each other.
He warned:”if we only arrest the symptoms, we will keep missing the cause.”
Mr Marwa made the remark on Tuesday as Chairperson of the 5th edition of the Conversation Conference (TCC 5.0) organised by Intersect Consortium led by UK based Consultant Psychiatrist, Dr Vincent Udenze, in Abuja.
This is contained in a statement by the Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA, Femi Babafemi in Abuja.
The NDLEA boss who also chaired the first edition in 2022 and the third, said the conference had grown into one of the largest gatherings on mental health in Nigeria.
He added that the event, coming days after World Mental Health Day, was a chance to move from awareness to action.
He said behind many drug abuse cases treated at the NDLEA rehab facilities, lies untreated pain.
According to him, 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 added.
Speaking on the conference theme of “Strategic Investments, Partnerships and Community-led action”, Mr Marwa said that mental wellbeing could not thrive where hopelessness and poverty drive people into harm.
He cited the agency’s work in three pilot communities in Ondo State, where families who once depended on illicit cultivation were helped to build legitimate, lawful livelihoods.
He said the NDLEA intends to scale the model nationwide and invite partners to join.
“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.
“When people have hope, income and a stake in their future, stress eases, families stabilise and communities grow resilient. These were solutions designed with communities, not imposed on them.
“We intend to scale this model across the country and invite our partners to walk that road with us,” he said.
The NDLEA boss also highlighted the agency’s War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaign, which reaches young people in schools, campuses and communities.
“Also, its 24/7 toll-free helpline, which ensures that “a frightened teenager, a worried mother or a person on the edge can be heard in the dead of night, at no cost,”he maintained.
Mr Marwa disclosed that over 53,843 persons have passed through the NDLEA’s 31 rehabilitation facilities across Nigeria in the last five years.
“Behind that number are fathers returned to their families and young people returned to school and work,” he said.
The NDLEA chief said mental health “cannot remain the poorest relation in our health budgets,” stressing that every naira spent on prevention, trained personnel and accessible treatment returns as productivity, safer communities and stronger families.
Mr Marwa called for more psychiatrists, psychologists, counsellors and community health workers, and for mental health to be integrated into primary healthcare so that “no one travels hundreds of kilometres to be heard.”
He added that financing must be equitable, because “care that only the well-off can afford is not a system, it is a privilege.”
Commending the conference’s focus on women and children, Mr Marwa said survivors of violence, displaced mothers, girls with no one to ask, persons living with disabilities and families displaced by conflict were too easily missed.
He said the NDLEA’s experience shows that recovery lasts longer when the mother, the child and the household are supported together.
He stressed that no single institution could carry the burden alone and called for health, education, security, justice and social welfare sectors to work together.
Mr Marwa appreciated the Vice President, Kashim Shettima represented as Special Guest of Honour by Senator Ibrahim Hadejia for his support, which signals that mental health is a national priority.
Mr Marwa urged participants to leave with commitments “to finance what works, to scale proven community models, to put women, children and the vulnerable first, and to hold one another accountable for results.”
“Let us build a Nigeria where seeking help is an act of courage, where recovery is possible, and where no one suffers alone,” he added.