 On a breakfast this morning, experts have raised alarm over the growing counterfeiting of illicit products and trafficking in the country is saying it has become a global security concern, pretending danger to humans and animals. We look at the situation ahead on the program. And of course the Qatar 2022 World Cup is a goal, some matches have come and gone, the first round of matches with quite a few upsets. We look at those including Argentina versus Saudi Arabia. And of the press this morning, we'll be taking a look at what the papers have to say, bringing you in depth analysis with a guest analyst ahead on the program. We're back with the breakfast and plus TV Africa. We would have to sincerely apologize to our viewers for bringing the program beyond the time stipulated. We apologize for that, but we'll start with a trending segment this morning. And of course looking at what has been generating comments on the social space and this one has to do with a very, very serious situation, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency seizing a certain amount of illicit drugs. Always, always, always will be a news because of the bust, the record busts by the NDLEA in recent times. And you can see, you know, footages of officials of the Nigeria's National Drug Law Enforcement Agency coming the bushes to see, you know, to do their job. Well, this time it was in Katsila State in northern Nigeria where they made this seizure. It's quite, quite huge, 1.5 tons of illicit drugs. And of course, they also arrested 993 persons in Katsila State. This is between the period from November 10, 2021 to November 23. All right. And this is what the state commander is saying now. What got people talking is a huge number of persons who have been arrested, 993. And of course, the state commandant of the NDLEA was given a review of his activities in the state to newsmen under the period that we just mentioned. He took over the command in November 10 as the 16th state commandant. And after an overview of the drug situation he says, looking at the arrests and the seizures, the age and gender, he said they decided to tackle the situation in the state using evidence-based approach in terms of substance use. And they also intensified the rates and operations patrol and surveillance. And this approach he's saying is yielded positive results with almost 1,000 arrests, 993. Now, he gave a breakdown of the number of the demography, if you want to call it, of this number. It comprises 977 males and 16 females. And of course, he also gave a breakdown of drug seas within this period. Listen to this. 1,555,446 kilograms of drugs made up of 1,000,000, rather. 1,473,795 kilograms of cannabis sativa. All right? That should be the popular one amongst all drugs. Should we call it the king of these drugs? Ego is what some people call it in this part of the world. Ego. In some places they call it wee. But if you go down to my city of Calaba, they call it Icon Epo. They call it Icon Epo. If you know a Calaba person, go and ask them what they mean by, we mean by Icon Epo. So, I mean, no surprises that you had more of the drugs that they seized, the 1.5 tons they seized being made up of cannabis sativa. In fact, some people are saying, you know, it should be legalized. Like Bob Marley said, legalize it and now advertise. Indeed, in some countries, presidential candidates campaign. I'm saying they will make it legal. But for now, if you're caught with Ego or wee or Icon Epo, as by Calaba people call it, you have yourself to blame. Okay? You have yourself to blame. They also seized to 80, 1,651.39 kilograms of psychotropic substances. These are the ones that are new. These are the ones that are mixed with things. These are the ones that are chemically enhanced. I hear things like Colorado, Arizona. I don't know if we hear New York City somewhere. Some drugs that, you know, are psychotropic. And so this is different from the natural ones. That we know. Also, cough syrup. They seized 92.95 liters of cough syrup with codeine. You know, never knew years ago. I never knew that people take cough syrup to get high. I mean, it's just crazy what people can do. We have a problem, you know, and we need to agree. We have a problem. This is what it said. And the demographic is quite interesting. 93% of the suspects arrested are between the ages of 16, 16 and 40 years. Alright? 93% of those arrested between the ages of 16 and 40 years. So you might just think, oh, you need somebody as old as me. No. You might be seeing people who are even less than 16 years. If we were to look at that, less than 16 years who are into these illicit drugs. And this is the problem we need to tackle in our society because there is a nexus between illicit drug use, drug abuse, and crime, criminality in our society. You know, it's very important. It's very important. I mean, 16-year-old smoking Igbo. Man, it's crazy. Okay? So according to him, at the end of the year, he also does not just arrest. They cancel and rehabilitate. And according to Becher, he says that the drug demand reduction unit of the command has been able to cancel and rehabilitate 76 people for all the people who had substance use this order from the Niger Republic, you know. So close to 800% of undergone brief intervention at their center. It is a problem that needs to be looted into. We need to have a strategy. You know, in the United States of America, I'm not citing the United States of America because you're the best country in the world or because you're better and anything, but this is a country where you have a system that works amongst other countries in the world. So we can always borrow you from them. Some people campaigned and said, see, if you elect me president, I'm going to tackle what we call the opioid crisis. So they sat down and said, we have an opioid crisis. Donald Trump, when he was president, had his son in law in charge of tackling the opioid crisis. So what is the strategy apart from arresting people who are found with these illicit drugs? What is the national strategy to tackle this illicit drug, illegal substances crisis we have in a country? Musicians are singing about loud and they're eulogizing it, you know, and glorifying these drugs, singing about Igbo in the music. So it's almost like a common thing. Today, if you, if the Indian area arrests anyone, you see a whole social media will go, be sick. Why are you arresting him? It's not just, you know, so it's normalized now. We have a crisis on our hands and we need to come up with a strategy aside from law enforcement to tackle it. That being said, we'll take a pause now and we'll be back with a look at the papers. Stay with us.