Some Osun Indian Hemp Farms Inaccessible – NDLEA
The Osun State Command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has said some indian hemp plantation across the state, especially Ilesa could not be accessed and called hunters to provide timely information that could lead to arrest of the perpetrators.
Assistant State Commander, Administration and Logistics, of Osun NDLEA, Mr. Ganiyu Adeloye, made this known on Monday, in Osogbo, while addressing members of Nigeria Hunter and Forest Security Service, Osun command at a day workshop organised by the group.
Adeloye, who decry the rise in illicit drug consumption is Osun said the state is currently ranked second in Indian Hemp cultivation in South West region, called for the support of hunters in the area of intelligence that could lead to the arrest and seizure of illicit drugs.
According to him, good knowledge of various hidden routes and almost ubiquitous presence of hunters across the state has made members of the group worthy partners for NDLEA in the state, urging them to be a good examples to the residents by refraining from illicit drug use.
He said, “If we give no room for people to take hard drugs, there will be drastic reduction in criminal activities and other vices in our society. That is why we implore the hunters to always report criminal activities to us since they are always privy to information in their various localities and they also know all the nooks and crannies of various communities than the NDLEA officers.
“Hunters have access to information in minutes, what we cannot see in three or four years. It is sad to announce to you that Osun State has been ranked second among states that cultivate Indian Hemp in the South West.
“It is a sad thing because nearly all states in Nigeria have airports but Osun cannot boast of its own airport, but was ranked second in hemp cultivation and I know our mothers and fathers in the communities are aware of this development, because they are the ones giving them land on which they cultivate it.
“You lease your farmland to the highest bidder because they offer the highest amount compared to someone who want to cultivate food crops. The money offered to you would not allow you to ask for what they want to cultivate. In fact, I heard some people are even providing security for Indian Hemp farm.
“You may not know this, but I tell you, a farmland that has been used to cultivate Indian Hemp can’t be good for any other crop again until after 15 years. Anything planted on such land before 15 years will not return good yield. The perpetrators would have harvested their produce and use the proceeds to better their lives and that of their community while they would have desecrated our own land.
“This is a challenge to us. I am happy to hear from our representative from Ila Orangun that people no longer cultivate Indian Hemp in the community. If it is really so, then I congratulate the people of Ila. But I know there are people that plant hemp inside yam and okro farm, we urge our fathers not to overlook such.
“That is not all, the Constitution of the country allows an individual who has the capacity to arrest anyone engaging in criminal activities, even if you are not a hunter, because it is not everytime you report to the security. If you want to report, the suspects may have escaped before you come back. But if you have capacity of doing so, hand them over to the security agents, the law allows it.
“At the same time the law gives hunters the upper hand to arrest criminals whether on the high way, in the bush or wherever. What the law frown upon is jungle justice. You can only arrest criminals after which you hand them over to security agencies.”
In his welcome address, the Osun State Commander of NHFSS, Mr Nureni Ahmed, said the group organised the workshop to discuss areas of collaboration between the two organisations due to rising crime rates across the state.
Ahmed, who was flanked by the assistant commander, Mr. Bayo Oyekanmi, said over 500 members of the organisation drawn from all local government areas in the state were attending the workshop, stated the readiness of NHFSS to support NDLEA in its fight again illicit drug business in the state.
“We are ready to support NDLEA in its fight against illicit drug cultivation and use in Osun. We have our men all over the state and we have capacity to assist the agency. We organise this workshop for our men to get more informed about NDLEA’s activities and see how we can support the organisation,” Ahmed said.
Hafsoh Isiaq is a graduate of Linguistics. An avid writer committed to creative, high-quality research and news reportage. She has considerable experience in writing and reporting across a variety of platforms including print and online.
