Fashola urges stiffer penalties for drug peddlers

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(Nigeria) Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State on Monday said that stiffer penalties should be put in place for drug traffickers and manufacturers to achieve success in the fight against drug peddlers.
The governor made the statement when he received the Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Alhaji Ahmadu Giade, at the Government House, Ikeja.
He said that the drug trade was "too dangerous" to be treated with a kid gloves, noting that the country's anti-drug law must be made more punitive to fight the menace.
According to him, drug trafficking and use often motivate terrorism and other violent crimes.
 "I support calls and campaigns for stiffer penalties for drug traffickers, manufacturers and others who are one way or the other engaged in this unhealthy trade. In the face of increasing national and global insecurity, it is impossible not to put a sharper focus on the role drugs play in the conduct of those who perpetrate crimes.
"I have come to the resolute belief that it takes some degree of abnormality for someone to go out and take people's lives. And often times, those who perpetrate these crimes do it under the influence of drugs and other substances. It is based on the danger posed to our collective security by drug trade that I advocate stiffer penalties to serve as a disincentive to those engaged in it."
Fashola explained that drug trafficking had contributed to arms proliferation and had increased crime rate.
The governor urged security agencies to collaborate with the NDLEA in its efforts to confront crime.
"The first fight against crime is to rid the country of illicit drugs. For me, every security agency that wants to fight crime must collaborate with the NDLEA. Most crimes are motivated by drugs and if you don’t fight drugs, you can't fight crime.``
Fashola said the State Government would strengthen collaboration with the NDLEA to rid the state of drugs.
Earlier, Giade said that the agency was winning the war against drugs as it had, through a number of efforts, reduced trafficking and use.
He said that the removal of Nigeria from the list of biggest drug transit countries in 2010 was proof of the progress made.
Giade thanked Fashola for supporting the operations of the NDLEA, saying the support had helped the agency to record some successes in Lagos.
Fashola, at the end of the meeting, provided two patrol vans to the NDLEA to enhance its operations in the state.
Mr Fola Arthur-Worrey, Executive Secretary of the Lagos State Security Trust Fund, handed over the vehicles to the agency on behalf of the governor. 

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