A bill to empower the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to carry out compulsory drug tests on those seeking election into public offices is to be listed for hearing as the House of Representatives resume on Tuesday.
Chairman, House Committee on Narcotics Drugs, Francis Ottah Agbo, who is sponsoring the bill, said in a statement by his Media Adviser Andrew Agbese, that the bill also seeks to subject all serving and intending military personnel, law enforcement agents and security officers in Nigeria, as well as candidates seeking admissions into tertiary institutions in Nigeria to mandatory checks on drugs.
He told news men at the weekend in Abuja that “the menace of narcotic drugs addiction has pervaded all segments of the society and only drug integrity tests on people in critical service sectors can sanitize the system.
Agbo said the misconduct of some political office holders and most of the crimes committed in the society are drug-induced, adding that they would have been avoided if those involved have ab initio been ascertained free from illicit drugs.
Agbo who is also the spokesman of the Minority Caucus in the House, cited the instance of 21-year old Chidinma Ojukwu, who allegedly murdered her billionaire lover CEO of Star TV, Mr. Ataga, after being induced by illicit drugs to drive home his point!
“Narcotic drug addiction is common among our people across the board. From secondary school to the universities, from North to South, from politicians to the civil servants. Indeed, Nigeria is the highest abuser of illicit drugs; and cannabis is the most abused drug in our country.
“The more drug abusers or addicts are entrusted with critical service delivery, the more endangered our society becomes. The NDLEA will be empowered to carry out the integrity test on them, rehabilitate those who fail the test before they are reabsorbed in their organisations or admitted into schools as the case may be.”
The Lawmaker said though some may kick against the bill as infringing on their rights, “but the truth is that the drug matter is a serious one, illicit drug is killing Nigeria right now and we must waive those rights and do anything doable to fight the drug war and declare a state of emergency on drug abuse. If we fail to kill narcotic drug addiction, it will kill Nigeria.”
The lawmaker called on the National Assembly, critical stakeholders in the drug industry and Nigerians generally to support the proposed bill.
