Drug barons threaten political power in Nigeria, other African nations
By ADEMOLA BABALOLA and JIDE BABALOLA
Published: Sunday, 17 May 2009

There are fears that political power and decisions in Nigeria and the other West African countries risk falling under the control of wealthy drug barons who record annual turnover of $1billion, SUNDAY PUNCH investigations indicate.
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Chairman, (NDLEA) Ahmadu Giade.

Nigerian drug barons and other criminal syndicates in the West African countries are said to be presiding over a thriving trade in cocaine and other hard drugs with total worth enough to take over the weak political structures in the sub-continent.

The fear of the wealthy drug barons, a United Nations officer on Drugs and Crimes in Africa, Latin America and the Middle-East, Mr. Chris Van Der Burgh, said, was at the centre of the body‘s new strategy to combat drug trade in the region.

In the case of Nigeria, he said international bodies were partnering with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to police the banks through which he alleged the drug proceeds were being laundered.

Van Der Burgh, in an exclusive interview with one of our correspondents said the political structures in West Africa were too weak and “are easy preys for global drug trafficking syndicates who seek to take over political power through associates among such countries citizens.”

The UN official said an average of 50 tons of cocaine from Latin America now passes through the affected countries annually, the monetary value of which he estimated at $1bn.

He said the fast and increasing level of drug trafficking as well as the volume of money laundering in the West African countries “could easily overtake all legitimate economic outputs within a few years if left unchecked.

“The cocaine being trafficked from Latin America through the region is having a devastating effect on countries in West Africa. For example, what passes through Guinea Bissau now is far in excess of Guinea Bissau‘s national economy.

“Of course, it is an indication of what a geometric problem it is; when you have drug trafficking, you have other forms of trans-national organised crimes.

”You have vast amount of money being generated and of course, this money has to be laundered in various manners. It is a geometric problem and it calls for geometric measures to be taken,” Van Der Burgh explained.

Although Van Der Burgh refused to disclose details of UNODC‘s intelligence reports on Nigerian drug syndicates, he stated that while some international drug barons send cocaine shipments through seaports and airports, others flood European countries with a huge number of ‘mules‘ who transport cocaine in small quantities.

“Obviously, shipments are passing through airports and through sea borders. When people are intercepted in European countries, one of the procedures they (drug barons) use is to flood a flight to a specific country with what they call mules or air couriers who either keep it on the body or swallow it.

“But obviously, the mules are not the main culprits. They are right at the end of the chains. It‘s the big ones behind the scenes that keep the business going on. The small people are lured by quick money and they easily get tempted with offers of $10, 000,” he stated.

Pointing out that Nigeria is not alone in facing serious challenges from drug traffickers and professional money-launderers, he explained that concerns about such problems made UNODC establish a special unit that helps the EFCC to monitor Nigerian banks.

“We have been on this project since early 2006 and it is basically aimed at helping the EFCC to assist banks to prune up their legislation and operating procedures up to international standards, so as to prevent money laundering taking place. I‘m really not in a position to comment on the level of Nigerian banks‘ involvement in this problem,” he said.

While acknowledging that official corruption remains a big threat to efforts aimed towards curbing crime, he said that the ultimate challenge was in the hands of each country‘s security and law enforcement agencies.

He added that various international bodies were helping to implement a cross-border action plan that was endorsed by presidents of ECOWAS countries.

“Of course, what people say and what people do are sometimes two different things. On this political declaration is the signature of the Heads of State and governments and it‘s an official record that they have committed themselves at the highest political level to put in place measures to deal with this problem,” he said.

In Nigeria, daily reports of arrests made by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency were indicative of increase in the drug trade in Nigeria.

There are many known drug traders said to be walking the streets of the country unhindered, while many of them dominate the social scene.

In fact, many of them have had records waxed in their praises.

Curiously, little was known about the world of the drug traders before 1984 when the trio of Batholomew Owoh, Bernard Ogedengbe and Akanni Ojuolape were publicly executed by the Gen. Muhammadu Buhari regime for trafficking in hard drugs.

At the height of the drug trafficking menace in 1989, the Gen. Ibrahim Babangida administration established the NDLEA via Decree 48 the same year.

In spite of past efforts of the anti-narcotics agency, the trade appears to be on the increase.

In one of its recent successes, the NDLEA in Ogun State last March 31 confiscated 6.5 tons of marijuana from the home of a 114-year-old man, Sulaiman Adebayo.

The illegal haul was packed in 254 sacks.

“The quantity of drugs suggests a large scale involvement , There is more to the case than Pa Sulaiman,” NDLEA chairman, Ahmadu Giade later said in a statement.

Lax customs control and corruption have also made Nigeria a conduit for hard drugs from Asia and Latin America into Western markets.

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