Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State identified illicit drugs’ prevalence as the root cause of rising insecurity in Nigeria.
The governor disclosed this on Tuesday when he received Brig.-General Mohammed Buba Marwa (rtd), the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, NDLEA, at the Government House, Port Harcourt.
Wike, in a statement signed by Kelvin Ebiri, his Special Assistant on Media, said people sometimes believe the fight against criminality in Nigeria should be targeted only at kidnappers and bandits with less attention paid to the use of illicit drugs, which he insisted remained the root cause of such crimes.
He also promised to collaborate with the NDLEA to set up a Drug Rehabilitation Centre in Rivers.
According to Wike, “It’s most unfortunate that people think that fighting crime is only when you fight bandits and kidnappers. But, nobody wants to understand the root cause of most of these crimes.
“Any government worth its salt would not hesitate to support the agency in order to tackle the issue of drugs.
“For choosing Rivers State first as your first point of call shows how you take the State, and remembering that this is where your career started after your graduation from the Nigeria Defence Academy (NDA).
“As for the rehabilitation centre, we will work that out with the Commander in the State, to see how we can set up a Drug Rehabilitation Centre in the state. We will also give you three Hilux Vans immediately to enhance the performance of the agency.”
