Mohammed Bashir Ibrahim, Commander, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Kwara State Com­mand, has promised to make the agency more visible in sports events as a way of drug trafficking control.

According to him, the deci­sion is borne out of recent chal­lenges faced in policing drug traffickers in Kwara State.

Speaking on the danger it poses to sports, the NDLEA Commander added that youths are especially vulnerable to drug abuse because, according to him, “youths tend to glamor­ize drug use.”

“Matters are not helped when adults, handlers of athletes tend to sell them the drugs.

“We recently secured con­viction of a coach who was selling drugs to young athletes in his care,” he said.

Ibrahim explained these details on Tuesday when a group of journalists under the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria, SWAN, Kwara State chapter paid him courtesy call at the state head office in Ilorin.

SWAN is seeking collabo­ration in capacity building in the area of drugs and sports to further enhance their reporto­rial skills.

The NDLEA Commander also revealed grim scenario in drug law enforcement in state, saying that use and supply of synthetic cannabis, modified form of Indian Hemp, is now prevalent among drug abus­ers.

He added that More wom­en appear to be involved in the supply chain of the banned substances like the synthetic cannabis

“There are others that they call ‘loud, Colorado’ and so on, explained Commander Ibra­him.

Kwara state according to data from United Nation’s Office on Drugs and Crime, UNODC, has drug traffick­ing prevalence of 13 percent, highest in the whole of north central Nigeria.

The commander admitted that the data from UNODC is quite obsolete, given that it was produced in 2018 (statistical data are reviews at least every five years).

These factors said Ibrahim make the job drug law enforce­ment challenging.

Speaking on behalf of jour­nalists at the NDLEA office, Ayodeji Ismail, chairman, said that sports writers are very much aware of the dangers drug abuse pose to sports and youth development.

“We like to retool our mem­bers to properly report these in our bits,” he said.

He also pleaded that ND­LEA should always make their presence felt at sports events.

“Your presence will help keep drug traffickers away from our athletes,” he said.