. Seeks More Funding For Mental Health, Prioritises Women, Children
Felix Mbata, Lagos state
Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) has warned that drug abuse and mental illness reinforce each other, declaring that Nigeria will continue to miss the cause if it only arrests the symptoms.
Marwa gave the warning on Tuesday 13th October 2026 while chairing the 5th edition of The Conversation Conference, TCC 5.0, organised by the Intersect Consortium led by UK-based Consultant Psychiatrist, Dr. Vincent Udenze, at the Nicon Luxury Hotel, Abuja.
The NDLEA boss, who previously chaired the first edition in 2022 and the third edition, noted that TCC has grown into one of the largest mental health gatherings in Nigeria and said the conference, coming days after World Mental Health Day, offers an opportunity to move from awareness to action.
According to him, behind many drug cases treated in NDLEA’s 31 rehabilitation facilities nationwide lies untreated psychological pain.
“For too long, we treated mental health as a private burden, hidden behind shame and silence. In my work at the NDLEA, I see the cost of that silence daily. Behind many cases of drug abuse is untreated pain: depression nobody noticed, trauma nobody addressed, a young person who found a substance before finding help. Drug use and mental illness feed each other. If we only arrest the symptoms, we will keep missing the cause”, Marwa said.
Speaking on the theme of strategic investments, partnerships and community-led action, the NDLEA Chairman said mental wellbeing cannot thrive where hopelessness and poverty push people into harm.
He referenced the Agency’s Alternative Development pilot in three communities in Ondo State where families that once depended on illicit cannabis cultivation are now supported to build legitimate and lawful livelihoods, a model he said the Agency intends to scale nationwide.
“Your theme speaks of strategic investments, partnerships and community-led action. At the NDLEA, these are not abstract ideas. They are things we have done. When people have hope, income and a stake in their future, stress eases, families stabilise and communities grow resilient. These were solutions designed with communities, not imposed on them. We intend to scale this model across the country and invite our partners to walk that road with us”, he said.
Marwa also highlighted the Agency’s War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, campaign targeting young people in schools, campuses and communities, and its 24/7 toll-free helpline which ensures that “a frightened teenager, a worried mother or a person on the edge can be heard in the dead of night, at no cost.”
He disclosed that over 53,843 persons have passed through NDLEA rehabilitation facilities in the last five years, stressing that behind the figure are fathers returned to families and young people returned to school and work.
He warned that mental health cannot remain the poorest relation in the health budget, noting that every naira invested in prevention, personnel and accessible treatment returns as productivity, safer communities and stronger families.
Marwa called for more psychiatrists, psychologists, counsellors and community health workers, and for integration of mental health into primary healthcare so that no Nigerian travels hundreds of kilometres to be heard. He added that financing must be equitable, because care only the well-off can afford is a privilege, not a system.
He commended the conference focus on women and children, noting that survivors of violence, displaced mothers, girls with no one to turn to, persons living with disabilities and conflict-displaced families are often missed, and that NDLEA’s experience shows recovery lasts longer when the mother, child and household are supported together.
He called for synergy among health, education, security, justice and social welfare sectors, insisting no single institution can carry the burden alone.
Marwa thanked Vice President Kashim Shettima, represented as Special Guest of Honour by Senator Ibrahim Hassan Hadejia, for his support, saying it signals that mental health is a national priority, and urged participants to leave with commitments to finance what works, scale proven community models, put women, children and the vulnerable first, and hold one another accountable for results.
“Let us build a Nigeria where seeking help is an act of courage, where recovery is possible, and where no one suffers alone”, he added.