Chairman of the anti-narcotic agency, Buba Marwa, said this in Abuja yesterday at the opening of a drug prevention, treatment and care training for governors’ wives.

He said the drug problem had become one of the world’s greatest challenges threatening the well-being of human society.

“Consequences of drug abuse, including chronic health conditions and untimely death, are existential threats that cannot be ignored by any responsible government.

“Sadly, Nigeria is not insulated against this problem. Our country presently has some alarming drug statistics. Four years ago, we had 10.6m users of the psychoactive plant, which made Nigeria the world’s leading cannabis-consuming country.

“Likewise, Nigeria has also become a producer of and a market for crystal methamphetamine known locally as mkpuru mmiri. We all witnessed the havoc unleashed by this highly dangerous illicit substance in the Southeast last year,” Marwa said.

He said Nigeria had also become a dumping ground for illicit pharmaceutical opioids, especially codeine and tramadol, and remained Africa’s major transit country for cocaine and heroin.

He, however, noted that the situation is not irredeemable as it “can be salvaged, reversed and controlled only if we move quickly and adopt strong, well-conceived, coordinated and holistic measures of which this workshop is a part of the process.”