Drug Abuse, Mental Illness Feed Each Other, Marwa Warns

By Zainab Uzomah| Abuja

NDLEA boss calls for increased mental health funding, prioritises women, children.

The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), has warned that drug abuse and mental illness reinforce each other, urging the government to increase funding for mental healthcare and expand access to treatment.

Marwa said addressing drug abuse without tackling underlying mental health conditions would fail to address the root causes of substance use and addiction. He spoke on Tuesday in Abuja while chairing the fifth edition of The Conversation Conference (TCC 5.0), organised by the Intersect Consortium and led by UK-based consultant psychiatrist, Dr Vincent Udenze, at the Nicon Luxury Hotel.

The NDLEA chairman, who also chaired the inaugural edition in 2022 and the third edition of the conference, described the gathering as an important platform for moving mental health discussions beyond public awareness to practical action. He said many people battling drug abuse had underlying psychological distress that often went unnoticed or untreated.

“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,” he said.“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 added.

Speaking on the conference theme of strategic investments, partnerships and community-led action, he said mental wellbeing could not be achieved in communities where poverty, hopelessness and limited economic opportunities exposed people to harmful behaviours.

He cited the NDLEA’s intervention in three pilot communities in Ondo State, where residents previously dependent on illicit cultivation were supported to establish legitimate sources of livelihood.

According to him, the initiative demonstrated how community-driven economic interventions could help reduce vulnerability to drug-related harm while strengthening family and community resilience.

“When people have hope, income and a stake in their future, stress eases, families stabilise and communities grow resilient,” he said, adding that the agency planned to expand the model nationwide.

Marwa called on development partners and other stakeholders to support the initiative, stressing that sustainable solutions must be designed with communities rather than imposed on them.

He also highlighted the NDLEA’s War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaign, which targets young people through sensitisation programmes in schools, tertiary institutions and communities.

The agency’s 24-hour toll-free helpline, he said, provides access to support for people struggling with substance use and their families, including those who need assistance outside regular working hours.

Marwa disclosed that more than 53,843 people had received treatment at the agency’s 31 rehabilitation facilities across the country in the past five years.

“Behind that number are fathers returned to their families and young people returned to school and work,” he said.

The NDLEA boss described mental health as an area that should no longer receive inadequate attention in public health budgets, arguing that investments in prevention, trained personnel and accessible treatment would improve productivity, strengthen families and make communities safer.

He called for increased recruitment of psychiatrists, psychologists, counsellors and community health workers, as well as the integration of mental healthcare into primary healthcare services.

According to him, such integration would reduce the burden on patients who travel long distances to access specialised services.

He also stressed the need for equitable financing to ensure that access to mental healthcare was not determined by an individual’s financial circumstances.

“Care that only the well-off can afford is not a system, it is a privilege,” he said.

Marwa further commended the conference’s emphasis on women and children, noting that survivors of violence, displaced mothers, vulnerable girls, persons with disabilities and families affected by conflict often struggle to access adequate mental health support.

He said the NDLEA’s experience had shown that recovery was more sustainable when support extended beyond individuals to include their families and households.

The NDLEA chairman called for stronger collaboration among the health, education, security, justice and social welfare sectors, stressing that no single institution could address the country’s mental health challenges alone.

He thanked Vice President Kashim Shettima, who was represented at the conference by Senator Ibrahim Hassan Hadejia, for his support, which he said underscored the importance of mental health as a national priority.

Marwa urged participants to translate discussions at the conference into concrete commitments to fund effective interventions, expand successful community-based programmes, prioritise women and children, and ensure accountability for results.

“Let us build a Nigeria where seeking help is an act of courage, where recovery is possible, and where no one suffers alone,” he said.