77,792 arrests: NDLEA unveils five-year scorecard

Hard figures released by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have painted a stark picture of Nigeria’s intensified war against drug trafficking, with arrests, convictions and seizures reaching record levels over the past five years.

Official data presented by the agency showed that 77,792 drug-related arrests were made nationwide between 2021 and 2026, a figure that includes 128 individuals identified as major drug barons operating within expansive criminal networks.

Alongside the arrests, the NDLEA disclosed that 14,225 convictions were secured during the same period, reflecting what officials described as stronger case-building and improved collaboration with the judiciary.

“These numbers reflect deliberate, intelligence-led enforcement and sustained pressure on criminal networks,” the agency’s chairman, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), said during a ceremony in Abuja.

Seizures also featured prominently in the data. According to the NDLEA, a total of 14,847,486.34 kilograms of assorted illicit drugs were confiscated across the country, disrupting both local distribution chains and transnational trafficking routes.

Marwa said the volume of drugs seized represented a major blow to organised crime, noting that each interception reduced access to harmful substances within communities.

Beyond enforcement statistics, figures on drug demand reduction revealed a parallel effort to address substance abuse.

The agency reported that 32,442 drug users benefited from counselling, treatment and rehabilitation programmes.

In addition, 13,735 sensitisation campaigns were conducted nationwide under the War Against Drug Abuse initiative, targeting schools, motor parks, workplaces, worship centres and local communities.

“These interventions show that our response goes beyond arrests,” Marwa said. “Prevention and rehabilitation remain critical to long-term success.”

The NDLEA leadership attributed the numerical gains to institutional support from the executive, legislature and judiciary, as well as backing from international partners and sister agencies.

According to Marwa, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s decision to extend the current leadership’s mandate was directly linked to the performance indicators recorded over the last five years.

“An extension based on results is a signal to raise the bar even higher,” he said, adding that future operations would be more tactically demanding.

The event also featured awards for officers whose efforts contributed to the milestones, with the agency urging personnel to view the figures not as an endpoint but as a foundation for tougher operations ahead.

With the latest statistics now public, the NDLEA insisted that the numbers tell a clear story: Nigeria is becoming increasingly difficult terrain for drug traffickers and criminal syndicates.