Anti-Narcotics: Naira Marley not our Ambassador, says NDLEA

*The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency clarified its engagement with music star Naira Marley is ‘to encourage him to use his skills and platforms to put out content that will discourage millions of his followers and Nigerian youths from substance abuse’

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has clarified that the recent visit of music star Afeez Adeshina Fashola, popularly known as Naira Marley, to the anti-narcotics regulatory agency was not for an ambassadorial role.

ConsumerConnect reports

Marley visited the NDLEA National Headquarters, in Abuja, FCT, earlier in the week, and preached against drug abuse.

The music star urged urging Nigerians to shun drugs.

However, following his visit, it was gathered that the social media was agog in the wake of the development, as several users claimed the singer had secured an ambassadorial deal with the agency during his visit.

The agency, nonetheless,  has refuted the claim.

The NDLEA, in a statement, has described the claim on an ambassadorial deal as “misleading” and an “absolute falsehood”.

Femi Babafemi, Director of Media and Advocacy at the agency, at the weekend said its engagement with Marley was “to encourage him to use his skills and platforms to put out content that will discourage millions of his followers and Nigerian youths from substance abuse.”

Babafemi said: “This clarification became necessary following continued misrepresentation of the purpose of the visit, especially on online platforms where some reports suggest that the British-Nigerian singer was appointed as an NDLEA Ambassador.”

The statement also noted: “This is a misleading and absolute falsehood as the pictures of the visit and the short video containing Naira Marley’s advocacy message to his followers were properly captioned and shared by the Agency without any suggestion of such an appointment.

“The decision by the Agency to encourage Naira Marley with over seven million followers, half the population of those who abuse drugs in Nigeria, to use his platform to share anti-substance abuse messages as against using same to promote and glamorise drug abuse with the dire consequence of misleading millions of Nigerian youths into their peril, is to create a balance between our drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.”

The NDLEA said: “This is also in line with the Agency’s whole society approach to the fight against drug abuse and in tune with global best practices as well as the theme for this year’s World Drug Day; People First: Stop Stigma and Discrimination, Strengthen Prevention.”