The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has commended the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for planning alternative development strategies that will take drug cartels out of business and protect the environment from the damaging effects of illicit drug cultivation and production.
In a press statement signed by its national coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, HURIWA said that the alternative development plan, which was announced by the NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, was a novel and effective approach to counter the world drug problem and other drug-related crime challenges.
The group described the initiative as a process to prevent, eliminate the illicit cultivation of plants containing narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances through specifically designed rural development measures in the context of sustained national growth and sustainable development efforts.
Explaining further HURIWA noted that alternative development had been successfully implemented in other countries, such as Afghanistan, where it had contributed to reducing opium poppy cultivation and improving the livelihoods of farmers.
The group hailed President Bola Tinubu for supporting the initiative through his administration, which had shown commitment to addressing drug-related socioeconomic issues, promoting evidence-based drug prevention, treatment, and care programmes.
The right group while urging Nigerians to support the NDLEA’s alternative development plan, which it said was a choice in favour of promoting a society free of drug abuse pledged it’s continuous monitoring of the implementation and advocate for success of the alternative development plan.
