DRUG use and mental illness feed each other, and “if we only arrest the symptoms, we will keep missing the cause.”
This was stated by the National Chairman of the Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig-Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), in his remark on Tuesday, October 13, as Chairman of the 5th edition of The Conversation Conference (TCC 5.0), organised by Intersect Consortium, led by United Kingdom (UK)- based Consultant Psychiatrist, Vincent Udenze, at the NICON Luxury Hotel, Abuja.
A statement by the agency’s Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, quoted Marwa, who also chaired the first edition in 2022 and the third, as saying the conference had grown into one of the largest gatherings on mental health in Nigeria, adding that the event, coming days after World Mental Health Day, was a chance to move from awareness to action.
He stated that behind many drug abuse cases treated at the NDLEA rehab facilities lied untreated pain, adding: “For too long, we treated mental health as a private burden, hidden behind shame and silence.
“In my work at the NDLEA, I see the cost of that silence daily. Behind many cases of drug abuse is untreated pain: Depression nobody noticed, trauma nobody addressed, a young person who found a substance before finding help.
“Drug use and mental illness feed each other. If we only arrest the symptoms, we will keep missing the cause.”
Marwa said mental wellbeing cannot thrive where hopelessness and poverty drive people into harm, citing the agency’s work in three pilot communities in Ondo State, where families who once depended on illicit cultivation were assisted to build legitimate, lawful livelihoods.
He said the NDLEA intends to scale the model nationwide and invited partners to join, noting: “Your theme speaks of strategic investments, partnerships and community-led action.
“At the NDLEA, these are not abstract ideas; they are things we have done. Mental wellbeing cannot thrive where hopelessness and poverty drive people into harm. In three pilot communities in Ondo State, we worked with the people themselves to build legitimate livelihoods, so that families who once depended on illicit cultivation could earn a dignified, lawful income.
“When people have hope, income and a stake in their future, stress eases, families stabilise and communities grow resilient. These were solutions designed with communities, not imposed on them. We intend to scale this model across the country and invite our partners to walk that road with us.”
He also stated that NDLEA’s War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaign, which reaches young people in schools, campuses and communities, and its 24/7 toll-free helpline, which ensures that “a frightened teenager, a worried mother or a person on the edge can be heard in the dead of night, at no cost.”
Marwa disclosed that over 53,843 persons had passed through the agency’s 31 rehabilitation facilities across Nigeria in the last five years, adding: “Behind that number are fathers returned to their families and young people returned to school and work.”
He said mental health “cannot remain the poorest relation in our health budgets,” saying every naira spent on prevention, trained personnel and accessible treatment returns as productivity, safer communities and stronger families.
Marwa called for more psychiatrists, psychologists, counsellors and community health workers, and for mental health to be integrated into primary healthcare, so that “no one travels hundreds of kilometres to be heard,” adding that financing must be equitable, because “care that only the well-off can afford is not a system, it is a privilege.”
He commended the conference’s focus on women and children, noting that survivors of violence, displaced mothers, girls with no one to ask, persons living with disabilities and families displaced by conflict are too easily missed.
The NDLEA boss said the agency’s experience showed that recovery lasts longer when the mother, the child and the household are supported together, stressing that no single institution can carry the burden alone and called for health, education, security, justice and social welfare sectors to work together.
Marwa thanked the Special Guest of Honour, Vice President Kashim Shettima, who was represented by Senator Ibrahim Hassan Hadejia, for his support, urging participants to leave with commitments “to finance what works, to scale proven community models, to put women, children and the vulnerable first, and to hold one another accountable for results.”
He concluded: “Let us build a Nigeria where seeking help is an act of courage, where recovery is possible, and where no one suffers alone.”
