Nigeria’s NDLEA chairman, retired Brigadier-General Buba Marwa, asked the Oba of Benin, Oba Ewuare II, on 4 November 2026 to back an initiative that persuades cannabis growers to abandon illicit cultivation.[1] Marwa made the request at the Oba’s palace in Benin City, after a separate courtesy call on Edo State Governor Monday Okpebholo at Government House the same day.[2] The agency statement says the two leaders pledged support for the campaign against substance abuse and illicit drug trafficking when Marwa brought the agency’s War Against Drug Abuse advocacy to Benin City.[2] Marwa said the agency wanted the traditional institution behind a campaign for communities in the Benin Kingdom to stay away from drug cultivation and trading.[2]

Marwa said the government would support the programme, under which cannabis growers are persuaded to switch to cassava, yam and maize, with farm inputs and community infrastructure such as roads, schools, clinics and water supply.[2] He said the programme is designed to give cannabis farmers legitimate incomes without fear of arrest and prosecution.[1] He said Nigeria is the first African country to adopt alternative development as a strategic pillar of drug control, an approach welcomed by the UNODC and endorsed by the Federal Government.[2] The pilot phase began in Ondo State in January 2026 and had produced results the agency called impressive.[2]

Blueprint reported that the pilot had begun in three communities in Ondo State.[1] The agency now plans to launch the scheme in Edo State, where Marwa said Governor Okpebholo had welcomed it and pledged to support the agency’s requests.[2] Marwa put cannabis at about 75 per cent of the 16 million kg of illicit substances the agency seized nationwide in the previous five years, with Edo among the states where it is cultivated.[2] Blueprint’s account placed the same 16 million kg of seizures over six years rather than five.[1]

The Oba said he would send his suggestions for improving the NDLEA’s work in writing to Marwa rather than state them publicly.[2] No arrests, seizures or farm destructions were reported from the visit.[1]