Dismissal, Prosecution Await Any Official Involved In Highway Extortion – NDLEA Warns

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), has said it has put in place stringent measures against any form of corrupt act by its personnel.

Consequently, it urged motorists and other road users in Nigeria to report unwholesome activities by agency officials, adding that the agency has put measures in place to fight corruption.

Director of Media of the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, who stated the position of the agency on Wednesday, August 16, 2023, during an anti-corruption radio programme, ‘PUBLIC CONSCIENCE’, produced by the Progressive Impact Organisation for Community Development, PRIMORG, stressed that the agency will not hesitate to wield the big stick on any of its staff found culpable of fraud.

Babafemi said officials know that what awaits them is dismissal and prosecution if they are found guilty of extortions and bribes.

NDLEA’s position came against the backdrop of an investigative report published by Human Angle Media which alleged that officials of the agency and five other security agencies are extorting money from motorists and road users at checkpoints along the Maiduguri highways, Borno state.

However, the spokesman of NDLEA, insisted that the staff of the agency are not known for extorting motorists on Nigerian roads because they understand the enormity of engaging in corrupt acts, which attracts both sack and prosecution in accordance with the law.

Babafemi also said that the officials of the agency deployed at various checkpoints across Nigeria are trained to do their job professionally, saying that the responsibility of officers of the NDLEA on the highway, is strictly to check for drugs and not anything else.

In the words of Babfemi; “If you’re not trafficking or carrying drugs, you have no business with them. Rather, what people complain about NDLEA personnel on the roads is a delay in time used in searching vehicles which I don’t encourage”.

Commenting further on measures to check corruption within the agency, Babafemi explained that “NDLEA Chairman, Buba Marwa set up monitoring units that report to him directly and a taskforce team that investigates activities of personnel and promptly hand out disciplinary measures.

According to him; “Public service rules are taken seriously, and this helps make the personnel behave well. Also, recruiting people into the agency is top-notch, and this is to ensure persons of integrity are recruited into NDLEA”.

Babafemi called on Nigerians to assist the agency in spreading the advocacy against the trafficking of illicit drugs and substance use, stressing that many harmful substances are seized from highways, and people are arrested for trafficking drugs now and then.

He said the agency has been partnering with the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) at the federal, subnational and local levels in the fight against the trafficking of illicit drugs.

Babafemi also expressed the readiness and willingness of NDLEA to partner with PRIMORG and other organizations and urged investigative journalists and other media organizations to concretize their stories with evidence to help the agency take action against personnel indicted.

On his part, an investigative journalist with Human Angle Media, Ijasini Ijani, said motorists are not able to resist giving money to security officials at checkpoints due to fear of being delayed while alleging that extorting of motorists on the Maiduguri highways is allegedly spearheaded by the Nigerian Army and the Police.

The report also indicted the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), and the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC).

PRIMORG wrote the NIS and the Nigeria Police Force for their responses to the allegation just as the Nigerian Army and FRSC failed to turn up for the radio programme.