By Kazeem Waris
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), has called for increased investment in mental healthcare, warning that efforts to tackle drug abuse will remain incomplete unless the underlying psychological and emotional problems driving substance use are addressed.
Marwa said drug use and mental illness often reinforce each other, urging policymakers to move beyond arrests and enforcement to prioritise prevention, rehabilitation and accessible mental health services.
“If we only arrest the symptoms, we will keep missing the cause,” he warned.
The NDLEA chief made the remarks on Tuesday, October 13, 2026, while chairing the fifth edition of The Conversation Conference (TCC 5.0), organised by the Intersect Consortium at Nicon Luxury Hotel, Abuja.
The conference, led by UK-based consultant psychiatrist Dr Vincent Udenze, focused on strategic investments, partnerships and community-led action in mental health.
Marwa, who also chaired the conference’s first edition in 2022 and its third edition, said the gathering had evolved into a major platform for discussions on mental health in Nigeria. Coming days after World Mental Health Day, he said, the event offered an opportunity to translate public awareness into concrete action.
He observed that many people struggling with drug abuse had underlying emotional distress, trauma or depression that had gone unnoticed or untreated.
“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,” he said.
“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.”
Over 53,000 treated at NDLEA rehabilitation centres
Marwa disclosed that more than 53,843 people had passed through the NDLEA’s 31 rehabilitation facilities across Nigeria in the past five years, describing rehabilitation as a critical component of the country’s response to substance abuse.
“Behind that number are fathers returned to their families and young people returned to school and work,” he said.
He argued that recovery required more than removing people from drugs, stressing the need to address the personal, social and economic circumstances that could contribute to substance use.
The NDLEA chief also highlighted the agency’s War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaign, which targets young people in schools, tertiary institutions and communities through public education and sensitisation.
He said the agency’s 24-hour toll-free helpline provided an avenue for people experiencing drug-related difficulties, as well as concerned family members, to seek assistance.
The helpline, he noted, was intended to ensure that people in distress could access support without the barrier of cost.
Marwa demands bigger mental health budget
The NDLEA chairman warned that mental healthcare could no longer remain a neglected component of Nigeria’s health financing priorities.
“Mental health cannot remain the poorest relation in our health budgets,” he said, arguing that investment in prevention, trained personnel and accessible treatment could improve productivity, strengthen families and contribute to safer communities.
He called for more psychiatrists, psychologists, counsellors and community health workers, while advocating the integration of mental health services into primary healthcare.
According to him, services should be available close to where people live so that distance and cost do not prevent those in need from receiving care.
He also stressed the need for equitable financing, warning against a system in which only wealthy Nigerians could afford treatment.
“Care that only the well-off can afford is not a system, it is a privilege,” Marwa said.
He urged government institutions and other stakeholders to expand access to treatment and ensure that mental healthcare was treated as an essential part of public health delivery.
Poverty, hopelessness fuel vulnerability
Addressing the conference theme of strategic investment, partnerships and community-led action, Marwa said mental wellbeing could not be separated from the economic conditions in which people lived.
“Mental wellbeing cannot thrive where hopelessness and poverty drive people into harm,” he said.
He cited the NDLEA’s work in three pilot communities in Ondo State, where residents who previously depended on illicit cultivation were supported in developing lawful and sustainable livelihoods.
Marwa said the initiative demonstrated how community participation and economic opportunities could help reduce vulnerability while giving families a more secure future.
“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,” he said.
He added that the programme was designed with communities rather than imposed on them, arguing that local ownership was essential to achieving lasting results.
“When people have hope, income and a stake in their future, stress eases, families stabilise and communities grow resilient,” he said.
The NDLEA chief disclosed that the agency intended to expand the model across the country and invited development partners and other stakeholders to support the initiative.
Women, children must come first
Marwa also called for greater attention to women, children and vulnerable groups in the design and financing of mental health interventions.
He identified survivors of violence, displaced mothers, girls without adequate support, persons living with disabilities and families uprooted by conflict as groups whose mental health needs could be overlooked.
He said the NDLEA’s rehabilitation experience suggested that recovery was more sustainable when support extended beyond the individual to include the family and household.
According to him, interventions that support mothers, children and other family members can help create a more stable environment for recovery and reintegration.
Marwa urged stakeholders to ensure that mental health programmes were inclusive and responsive to the needs of people facing poverty, displacement, violence and other forms of vulnerability.
Calls for coordinated national response
The NDLEA boss maintained that no single institution could address Nigeria’s drug abuse and mental health challenges in isolation.
He called for stronger collaboration among the health, education, security, justice and social welfare sectors, alongside community organisations and development partners.
Marwa also thanked Vice-President Kashim Shettima, who was represented at the conference by Senator Ibrahim Hassan Hadejia, for his support, saying the participation underscored the importance of mental health as a national priority.
He urged conference participants to leave with measurable commitments to fund effective interventions, expand successful community-based programmes and improve accountability.
“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.
