By Muhammad Ibrahim Sokoto
Malam Yakubu Kibo is barely one year in Sokoto as the new Sokoto Commandant of the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency and explained the activities to be adopted to reduce importation and consumption of hard drugs in the state.
Question- May I know who I am speaking with ?
Answer- Yes, i am Yakubu Kibo the new Sokoto NDLEA Commandant
Question – As a new state Commandant with certain experienced strategies, how do you intend to fight drugs abuse in the state ?
Answer -As far as drugs is concerned,there is nothing new, this drug activities is not only peculiar to Sokoto state or Nigeria alone,is world over. But all what we need is to put our heads together and see how to fight this war.
This drugs war is not only for NDLEA to fight but all of us,we must give a helping hand, pressmen, have a very important role to play particularly when it comes to sensitization, you sensitize people the dangers of these drugs.
Just as I said, I have already mapped out strategy on how to deal with this drugs issue, right now I have constituted a very strong and powerful team to check drug activities in the state so as to reduce drug abuse to the barest minimum with your support and the support of the community.
What I have in here, most of the substance here is cannabis popularly known as Indian Hemp, but other drugs are still available as the 2019 seizure indicated that cannabis was 70% of the seizure.
With due respect to people taking drugs, we all know that all these human right abuses cannot easily be done without drug abuses, and all these criminal activities like kidnapping, armed robbery, adultery, name them are done under the influence of drug abuse. No human being in his real senses can do what kidnappers, armed robbers, bandits are doing.
Community are expected to give accurate information on ware houses and dealers,religious and traditional leaders also have a very important role to play, because people go into drugs without knowing the consequences, look at our people in villages, most of the took 220 milligrams worth of tramadol keeping them working from morning till late evening without resting, cannot be hungry, cannot be tired, yet what they don’t is they are gradually killing themselves.
Their system is gradually corroding, like engine, when you overworked it, it is bound to burst.
Consumption of these drugs leads to divorce, rape, unnecessary accidents and all inhuman acts.
Thanks to the state government for constructing rehabilitation and counselling center in the command which is fully equipped.
Question – Is there any synergy or collaboration with other forces to counter drug abuse in the state ?
Answer – Yes, very solid one especially with army, civil defence and other sister agencies, we don’t usually work in isolation, in serious cases we collaborate and success usually prevailed.
Question – Does it mean you are adopting new strategy apart from the former ?
Answer – Dealers and consumers keep on changing styles, we therefore adorpt new formidable styles, is the responsibilities imposed on us by Federal Government to, as a matter of facts, completely stop importation and reduce consumption to barest minimum, we must therefore do more than our best to to it. We are working round the clock to ensure we overcome what the the drug barons are doing.
We very much rely on information from the public, to furnish us with hideouts of dealers, because you cannot arrest anybody to court without reliable evidence, that is why we study the environment before we out on operation, by so doing we arrest the person with reasonable quantity and evidently prosecute him to court.
Question – What are the existing challenges that hinder 100% of your operation ?
Question – Manpower, logistics are the basic things, and even the rehabilitation center presently don’t have enough beddings where the clients can conveniently sleep. There are so many things like that, we are only managing our vehicles, I repeat, manpower is not there, serious operations need manpower to succeed.
