Drug trafficking
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Nigeria and India have agreed to exchange intelligence on the activities of drug trafficking syndicates operating between both countries.

The agreement between the two countries will also see India provide training to National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) officers to help enhance its capacity, as disclosed in a statement Tuesday by the Spokesperson for the Agency, Femi Babafemi.

"This was part of recommendations and agreements reached at the end of a two-day bilateral meeting held in New Delhi, India between an NDLEA delegation led by its Chairman, Mohammed Buba Marwa, and a delegation of the Indian Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), led by its Director General, Satya Narayan Pradhan," Femi said.

The meeting also recommended the exchange of best practices in drug demand reduction and sharing of real-time information on the involvement of the nationals of both countries in drug trafficking as well as the conduct of joint operations, The Guardian reported.

Furthermore, the two nations agreed to hold another bilateral meeting in Nigeria in 2023 to further discuss the roadmap for the agreement.

NDLEA Chairman, Marwa, noted the importance of the meeting regarding global action against drug trafficking, considering both countries share a lot of commonalities.

Marwa also emphasized the importance of international cooperation from all stakeholders. He further stated that Nigeria has a National Drug Control Master Plan which has been instrumental in coordinating drug control efforts at the state level.

Satya Narayan Pradhan of NCB, head of the Indian delegation, welcomed the delegations from both countries at the meeting in his remarks. He described drug trafficking through maritime and air routes as a challenge for both countries and promised to help Nigeria by sharing information.

Pradhan went into detail about how the trend of illicit drug trafficking has shifted to couriers, dark-net markets, and social media platforms.

According to the UNODC, in 2021, 14.4% of Nigerians aged between 15 and 63 engaged in drug abuse, which is almost three times the global drug abuse prevalence rate of 5.5%.

Also, NDLEA found that 40 percent of youths aged between 18 and 35 were deeply involved in drug abuse in 2021, Premion Timea reported.

The outlook for drug use in Africa is unfortunately quite pessimistic. By 2030, it is expected that the number of drug users on the continent will increase by 40%. This means that Nigeria may have to deal with the problems posed by more than 20 million drug users in the future.