The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has begun training more than 100 counsellors as part of an effort to standardise how people with drug-use disorders are assessed and treated at its rehabilitation facilities across Nigeria.
The first phase of the training started at the NDLEA Academy in Jos, Plateau State, on Friday, according to the agency.
The exercise is being coordinated by the Directorate of Counselling, Treatment and Rehabilitation (DCTR), which oversees the agency's drug demand reduction work.
The move matters because counselling and rehabilitation form the treatment side of Nigeria's response to drug use, alongside the NDLEA's better-known enforcement operations against trafficking and illicit drug supply.
Why is NDLEA standardising counselling?
NDLEA said the training is intended to reduce differences in how counsellors work across its state commands.
It will cover areas including clinical assessment, treatment of substance-use disorders, emerging psychoactive substances, mental health conditions that occur alongside drug use, professional ethics, confidentiality, data management and clinical supervision.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brig Gen Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), said the programme would help strengthen the rehabilitation component of the agency's mandate.
Marwa was represented at the opening by the Director of Counselling, Treatment and Rehabilitation, ACGN Bashir Ibrahim.
“key objectives of the training include harmonizing practice through uniform protocols across all State Command rehabilitation facilities; enhancing clinical proficiency to address emerging psychoactive substances and co-occurring mental health disorders; aligning the Agency's rehabilitation practices with national and international standards; strengthening ethics, confidentiality and quality assurance; improving data management for evidence-based policymaking; promoting continuous professional development through peer review and clinical supervision; and optimizing rehabilitation outcomes by reducing inconsistencies in service delivery.”
The agency said the programme is its first major internal capacity-building exercise for NDLEA counsellors of its kind in several years.
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What does the existing policy say?
The training is not a new policy direction for Nigeria.
The National Drug Control Master Plan 2021–2025 identified drug demand reduction as one of the country's main strategic pillars.
It called for prevention, treatment, recovery, rehabilitation and social reintegration, alongside measures to reduce the harm associated with drug use.
The plan also identified inadequate capacity among health workers as a barrier to effective treatment and called for more training in substance-use disorders and mental health.
It recommended screening, brief intervention, referral, outpatient and residential treatment, aftercare and recovery management.
Nigeria's existing NDLEA counselling guidelines, developed with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), were designed to provide a common framework for counselling centres while allowing interventions to be adapted to individual clients.
Those guidelines stress clinical governance, confidentiality and patient-oriented care.
They also distinguish treatment and care from punishment, noting that counsellors should focus on helping people affected by substance-use disorders rather than treating them simply as criminals.
Why the issue is important
The scale of drug use means that treatment services affect more than the people who enter rehabilitation centres.
A national drug-use survey published by UNODC estimated that 14.3 million Nigerians aged 15 to 64 had used drugs, excluding alcohol and tobacco, in 2017.
That represented about 14.4% of the population in that age group at the time.
The figure is now dated and should not be treated as a current estimate of drug use in Nigeria.
However, it illustrates why treatment capacity and reliable data remain important.
NDLEA says its Directorate of Counselling, Treatment and Rehabilitation currently manages residential counselling and rehabilitation centres in 30 state commands.
The agency says it provides psycho social interventions and social reintegration support, while people with physical symptoms or co-occurring conditions may be referred to other treatment facilities.
A growing treatment burden
NDLEA has previously reported an increase in the number of people receiving counselling and rehabilitation.
The agency said it provided counselling and rehabilitation to 10,904 people in 2022–23.
It later reported 19,033 people receiving counselling and rehabilitation during 2023 and 2024.
In 2025, Marwa also said the agency was expanding its rehabilitation network, with seven additional centres planned under the 2025 budget, with the stated aim of eventually providing a rehabilitation centre in every state.
The agency's latest announcement therefore comes as part of a broader attempt to expand the treatment side of its drug-control strategy.
What could change for patients?
If implemented properly, common counselling protocols could make treatment more consistent between states.
For patients and their families, the important test will not be the training itself but whether it leads to better assessment, appropriate referrals, stronger confidentiality, improved follow-up and better recovery outcomes.
This is particularly important for people who have both substance-use disorders and mental-health conditions, because they may require services beyond counselling alone.
UNODC's existing guidance says treatment goals can include abstinence, reducing the harmful consequences of continued drug use, improving health and social functioning, preventing relapse and helping clients reintegrate into society.
The accountability question
The NDLEA has said the new training will improve the quality of care and reduce inconsistencies in service delivery.
The next question is how that improvement will be measured.
The agency's plans include better data management and clinical supervision, but it has not provided, in the announcement, specific targets for treatment completion, relapse rates, patient satisfaction, referrals, follow-up or long-term recovery.
Those indicators would allow the public and policymakers to determine whether the investment in counsellor training is producing measurable results rather than simply increasing the number of trained personnel.
Marwa said the agency would continue investing in staff capacity as part of its approach to tackling both drug supply and demand.
“We’ll continue to entrench best global practices in our drug demand reduction efforts.”
The training is expected to continue beyond the first phase.
Its longer-term significance will depend on whether the new standards are consistently applied across NDLEA facilities and whether the agency publishes evidence showing that patients are receiving safer, more effective and more accessible treatment.
