The Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd), said on Tuesday the agency would subject politicians and students seeking admission to higher institutions in the country to drug test in the future.

The NDLEA chief, who spoke at the 5th Anniversary Lecture of Presidential Diary Magazine in Abuja, said with the 2023 general election in the horizon, it is important for Nigerians to entrust the management of their treasury and their well-being in the hands of individuals with clear minds.

He urged Nigerians to cooperate with the NDLEA in the fight against illicit drugs in the country

Marwa said: “In this regard, we are doing our best in our area of responsibility in the NDLEA. There has been a paradigm shift in our approach to controlled substances.

“In the past 100 days, operatives of the NDLEA nationwide have carried out non-stop offensive against drug trafficking, traffickers, and abusers. We shall not relent in our objective of having a drug-free Nigeria.

“We have the conviction that if we can shut down the drug pipeline, cancel out the drug demand-drug supply equation and mop up the cache of illicit substances in our territory, the insecurity problem will be half solved.

“More importantly, our National Drug Control Master Plan (NDCMP) has been tweaked to also focus on drugs from the perspective of public health and education issues. This way, we will be able to provide a balanced solution to the drug scourge.”