News
UN agency reveals criminals make $400bn annually from drug trafficking in Sahel, Lake Chad regions
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said on Friday criminals in countries in the Sahel and Lake Chad regions generate an estimated $400 billion annually from drug trafficking.
The UNODC Country Representative for Nigeria, Ousmane Touré, disclosed this at the end of a long-week meeting of the 5th Lake Chad Governors’ Forum in Maiduguri.
He said the large sum being generated in countries in the region was fueling activities, including arms smuggling, human trafficking, and money laundering.
READ ALSO: Why NBS wants to add prostitution, drug trafficking to Nigeria’s GDP calculation
Touré said the criminal organisations involved in drug trafficking were increasingly diversifying their operations and establishing complex value chains that link the drug trade with other forms of transnational organised crime.
The envoy decried the exploitation of natural resources such as gold in conflict zones.
The UNODC official stressed the need for regional cooperation, stronger border control measures, and institutional reforms to combat corruption in the region.
Join the conversation
Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism
Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.
As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.
If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.
Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.
SPECIAL REPORT: In Sokoto, classrooms overtaken by goats, reptiles, as insecurity, lack of teachers, govt inaction push children out of school
SHEHU MUHAMMAD SHEHU reports on how insecurity, government inaction and lack of qualified teachers has significantly forced up the number...
INVESTIGATION: Abia residents in pains, as contractor abandons erosion control project after collecting N185m
Fresh from fashion school in 2022, Onuka Kalu planned to convert one of his father’s two shops, where he formerly...
Trump halts $50m Gaza aid, cites ‘condoms in Gaza’ claim
In a sweeping move to reassess U.S. foreign aid spending, President Donald Trump has frozen a $50 million assistance package...
INVESTIGATION: In Zamfara, forgotten Health Center throws community into health crisis
In the late evening of Friday, September 14, 2024, shortly after the Maghrib prayer, Bashir Muhammad, a 34-year-old father of...
INVESTIGATION: Insufficient teachers, learning materials worsen education access in Kwara communities
Qudus, a Junior Secondary School (JSS 2) pupil, would sit the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) in a year to...