The Nigerian Senate amended the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Act on 9 May 2024. The amendment introduced the death penalty for drug offenders, including traffickers and consumers of hard drugs and narcotics. In 2023, the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics recorded over 14.3 million drug abuse cases in the country. The NDLEA also reported that Nigeria records over 2.5 million drug-related deaths annually. These records show that the current war on drug abuse is failing. To support victims of drug abuse in Nigeria, federal agencies must adopt humane legal measures and sustainable harm reduction programs. In addition, civil society organizations (CSOs) should advocate for repealing the death penalty.
The death penalty further victimizes drug offenders. It also violates the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights’ policy on drug abuse, that “the severity of the penalty should be commensurate with the weight of the crime.” Instead of the death penalty, the NDLEA should address the root causes of drug abuse. Federal agencies should invest in sustainable harm reduction programs instead of punitive measures. This approach should also include understudying countries like Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Mozambique. These countries successfully invested in harm reduction and achieved far-reaching benefits. Nigeria can apply these case studies to reduce drug use-related deaths and support the rehabilitation of drug abuse victims.
In 2024, the NDLEA reported the arrests of 51,000 alleged drug offenders. The agency also convicted 9000 in 38 months. Despite these punitive measures, the drug abuse problem persists. The government should channel the resources invested in prosecuting drug offenders into harm reduction strategies. For example, peer support programs, awareness campaigns, and accessible healthcare services for drug abuse victims. In 2024, the federal government approved $1.442 million for arms procurement for the NDLEA’s operations. If the agency committed only 25 percent of this amount to harm reduction programs, it would reduce the rate of drug use-related deaths and improve rehabilitation.
More humane alternatives to the death penalty and incarceration should include mandatory rehabilitation and community service, especially for nonviolent drug offenders. Also, reintegration programs should replace hard labor for minor drug offenses. For violent drug offenders, long-term sentences could be reduced for those who complete rehabilitation, demonstrate genuine transformation, and show readiness to reintegrate into society. However, without collaboration among the Nigerian judiciary, the NDLEA, the Federal Ministry of Justice, and key federal agencies to explore these alternatives, the drug abuse problem will become worse. Portugal once faced a similar crisis—drug addiction and deaths from drug overdose. However, the situation improved with a policy shift from criminalization to compassion. The rates of drug-related diseases and deaths have reduced drastically. Also, the standard of living improved among drug users.
CSOs should advocate for the repeal of the death penalty for drug offenders. In collaboration with social enterprises, media agencies, and public health-focused nonprofits, CSOs can combine public awareness campaigns, grassroots stakeholders’ mobilization, and policy engagement to drive reforms. In 2023, Malaysian CSOs like Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International Malaysia led Malaysia to abolish the death penalty for drug trafficking. The CSOs pressured lawmakers in the country by documenting unjust executions. In addition, they provided evidence that the death penalty did not deter drug-related crimes. For Nigeria, one way to start could be through media campaigns to change misconceptions about drug use, humanize drug users, and expose the failures of harsh drug policies.
The drug crisis in Nigeria is not a battle to win with harsh measures, especially the death penalty. It is a public health emergency that demands empathy, rehabilitation, and the enforcement of harm reduction policies. Apart from being outrageous, the death penalty also reflects the structural frailty of the agencies responsible for addressing the crisis. If Nigeria must eliminate drug-related harms, the government and all stakeholders must shift the focus from the effects to the root causes, from execution to rehabilitation, and from criminalization to care.
Precious Chinenye Muogbo is a writing fellow at African Liberty. She is on X: @Peatra_pm.
Photo by Jeremy Budiman via Unsplash.