Most people know the NDLEA from arrests at airports and bonfires of seized cannabis. Fewer know that the same agency runs a free 24-hour helpline, counselling centres in every state and the drug test you may need for a job. Here is what the NDLEA is, what it does, and how to deal with it.
NDLEA stands for the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Nigeria’s federal agency for drug control. It was set up by Decree No. 48 of 29 December 1989, now the NDLEA Act. It enforces the drug laws, but it also runs prevention campaigns, counselling and rehabilitation centres, and a free helpline on 0800 1020 3040.
What NDLEA stands for, and the law behind it
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency was created by military decree in December 1989, when Nigerian traffickers were damaging the country’s name abroad. That decree is now the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act, Chapter N30 of the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004. The agency describes its job as to “curtail illicit production, importation, exportation, sale and trafficking of psychoactive substances”, and adds that its staff “also engage in preventive drug abuse activities such as advocacy and counselling, and rehabilitation of drug users”.
The law may change soon. In June 2025 the President refused assent to an amendment bill, and in October 2026 he sent the Senate a new NDLEA Bill 2026, which would replace the NDLEA Act and the Indian Hemp Act with one law. The Senate referred it to a committee. Until a new law is signed, the 2004 Act applies. Nigeria does not have the death penalty for drug offences; a proposal for one in 2024 was never enacted. Our glossary entry on the NDLEA keeps a short version of all this.
What the NDLEA does
The agency describes four kinds of work.
Enforcement. Investigating, arresting and prosecuting people for growing, making, moving, selling or possessing controlled drugs. Its officers are at every international airport and seaport, at border posts and on major roads, and it has a command in every state. Since January 2021 it has run a campaign it calls Offensive Action: more arrests, more seizures and faster prosecutions. It also traces and seizes money made from drugs.
Prevention. The War Against Drug Abuse, or WADA, launched in June 2021, runs talks, clubs and competitions in schools, markets, motor parks and workplaces.
Counselling and rehabilitation. A Directorate of Counselling, Treatment and Rehabilitation runs residential counselling and rehabilitation centres at the agency’s state commands, keeps a register of NGOs that work on drug demand reduction, and collects treatment data. More on this below.
Drug tests and clearances. The agency runs the Drug Integrity Test that employers, schools and embassies ask for, and issues “visa clearance” for some travellers. Both are now applied for online.
Users and traffickers: how the law and the agency treat them
The NDLEA Act has no separate, softer offence for using drugs. It criminalises dealing, with a maximum of life imprisonment, and possession without lawful authority, with maximums of 15 to 25 years. Tramadol isn’t even named in the Act, yet the agency prosecutes people for moving it as a drug “similar to” cocaine and heroin, and courts have convicted on that basis. Actual sentences are usually far below the maximums, and most of the agency’s work targets supply. But if you are caught with cannabis, tramadol above the legal strength or codeine syrup, you can be charged. Our post on whether tramadol and codeine are banned explains exactly what is and isn’t legal.
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In practice the agency treats drug use as a health problem on its demand-reduction side. That directorate says it offers “psychosocial interventions (counselling) and social re-integration of persons who use drugs and their families”, and refers people with physical signs of a drug use disorder, or another mental health condition, to hospitals for fuller treatment. Its 2021 guidelines say people who are clearly dependent are best treated at health facilities. In October 2026 its chairman put it this way: “Drug use and mental illness feed each other. If we only arrest the symptoms, we will keep missing the cause.”
Two honest points. First, nothing in the law or on the agency’s website promises that a person who asks for help will not be arrested. Second, whether you count as a user or a dealer in a particular case depends on the facts and the charge. If you or a relative is facing either, speak to a lawyer.
The NDLEA helpline and counselling centres
The helpline is 0800 1020 3040. It is free, open 24 hours and run with a private provider, Primly Services, whose team includes clinical psychologists and counsellors. Counsellors speak English, Pidgin, Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo. They offer telephone and video counselling, assessment and relapse prevention, and refer callers to treatment near them. Family members can call about someone else. The helpline’s site says nothing about whether what you tell it is kept from the agency’s enforcement side, so if that worries you, start with a hospital or a therapist instead; see below.
Counselling and rehabilitation centres exist at the agency’s state commands, and its rehabilitation page lists an address for each state. The centres offer counselling for people who are not physically dependent, or who have already been through medical withdrawal in a hospital. By the agency’s own rules, a residential stay needs the person’s written consent, and Nigeria’s Mental Health Act bans chaining and other degrading treatment anywhere. The agency does not publish fees or lengths of stay, so ask at the command. In August 2026 it began retraining more than 100 of its counsellors on standard protocols, including ethics and confidentiality. Its chairman said in October 2026 that more than 53,000 people had passed through its centres in five years.
To find your nearest centre, the agency’s FAQ page says to visit the nearest NDLEA state command, or call the helpline and ask. For a guide to choosing between an NDLEA centre, a hospital unit and a private centre, read how to choose a rehab centre in Nigeria.
Last checked: 3 November 2026, from ndlea.gov.ng and ndleahelpline.com.ng.
Drug tests: who can ask for one
The NDLEA’s Drug Integrity Test is applied for at drugandvisa.ndlea.gov.ng. You create a profile, pay ₦7,688, enter your NIN, choose a state, a test centre (the headquarters, a state command or an accredited private laboratory) and a date, and print a slip. At the centre you give a urine sample. The agency says the result is ready in five to ten minutes and the certificate appears on your dashboard.
Who actually requires one?
- Federal government jobs. Since a circular of 22 December 2025, every applicant to the federal public service must pass a pre-employment drug test, arranged with the NDLEA. For the Ministry of Interior’s 2026 recruitment into the Correctional Service, Immigration, Fire Service and Civil Defence, the ministry paid for the tests, and the NDLEA warned candidates not to pay anyone.
- Students. The portal has a student category, applied for with a JAMB admission number, for institutions that ask for one. Check your admission letter.
- Travel. NDLEA visa clearance, which some travellers need for study or business trips, includes a drug integrity test and its own fee.
- NYSC. The NDLEA chairman has asked, in 2022 and again in April 2025, for corps members to be tested at orientation camps. As of November 2026 we found no NYSC rule that requires it. Camps do have NDLEA officers and searches.
- Private employers. Some job adverts now say “must pass a drug test”. Whether an employer can require one, and what happens if you refuse or fail, depends on your contract and the job. If it matters to you, speak to a lawyer before you sign.
Prescribed medicines can show up on a test. If you take a legal controlled medicine on prescription, carry the prescription and tell the centre before the test.
If you’re arrested by the NDLEA
This is general information, not legal advice. Every case is different, and the right first step is a lawyer.
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- You have the right to stay silent and to avoid answering questions until you have spoken to a lawyer or a person of your choice. Don’t sign a statement you haven’t read, and don’t sign one without a lawyer if you can help it.
- You must be told in writing, within 24 hours and in a language you understand, why you have been arrested.
- You must be brought before a court within a reasonable time: one day where a court is within 40 kilometres, otherwise two days, unless a court allows longer.
- You must be treated humanely, and the law bars arrest over a purely civil matter, such as a debt.
- If a legal medicine is involved, your prescription and the pharmacy receipt are your evidence. Keep them with the pack.
- Tell a family member where you are. The Constitution gives a right to compensation for unlawful arrest, but you will need a lawyer to pursue it. Legal-aid organisations can help if you can’t afford one.
Where to get help instead
If you or someone close to you is using drugs and wants to stop, you don’t have to start with a law-enforcement agency.
- A psychiatric or teaching hospital. The Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital in Yaba runs an addiction clinic, Aro in Abeokuta has a long-standing drug treatment unit, and most teaching hospitals have addiction psychiatry. See our guides to psychiatric hospitals in Lagos and in Abuja. Coming off alcohol, sedatives or opioids is safer with a doctor.
- A therapist. Therapists in Nigeria have no general duty to report a crime, and what you tell one stays private except in narrow cases, which we explain in when a therapist can break confidentiality. You can find a therapist who works with addiction and see them by video, voice or chat.
- The NDLEA helpline, 0800 1020 3040, if you want someone to talk to right now, free, at any hour.
For what dependence looks like, read our page on addiction and our post on tramadol and codeine addiction in Nigeria. Nigeria’s only national survey, in 2018, found about 14.3 million people aged 15 to 64 had used a drug in the past year. That is use, not addiction, and it means the person you’re worried about is far from alone.
If it’s an emergency now
- Someone has collapsed, is fitting or may have overdosed: call 112, or 767 in Lagos, and get them to the nearest hospital emergency unit.
- Someone is talking about ending their life: call Safe Place Nigeria on 0800 800 2000, free and open 24 hours. The full list is on our helplines page.
Frequently asked questions
What is the full meaning of NDLEA?
National Drug Law Enforcement Agency. It is Nigeria’s federal drug control agency, created by Decree No. 48 of 29 December 1989, now the NDLEA Act.
Is the NDLEA part of the police?
No. It is a separate federal agency with its own officers, commands in every state and its own directorate of prosecution. The police and the NDLEA sometimes work together, but an NDLEA arrest is made under the NDLEA Act.
Is the NDLEA helpline confidential?
The helpline is run with a private provider and staffed by psychologists and counsellors as a support service, not a reporting line. But neither the agency nor the helpline publishes a confidentiality promise, so we can’t give you one. If that matters, a hospital clinic or a therapist is a fully private route.
How much is the NDLEA drug test?
₦7,688 on the agency’s portal as of November 2026, paid through the portal’s bank channel. Don’t pay cash to anyone. Candidates for the Ministry of Interior’s 2026 recruitment don’t pay at all, because the ministry paid in bulk.
Does NYSC require a drug test?
Not as of November 2026, as far as we could find. The NDLEA has proposed it more than once, and NDLEA officers do search people arriving at orientation camps.
Can my family force me into an NDLEA rehabilitation centre?
By the agency’s own guidelines a residential stay needs your written consent, and the Mental Health Act requires consent for treatment except in narrow cases decided by doctors. Chaining and other degrading “treatment” are illegal anywhere.
Can the NDLEA arrest me for using drugs, not selling them?
Yes. Possession without lawful authority is an offence under the Act, with heavy maximum sentences, even though actual sentences are usually much lower and the agency says it treats use as a health problem. If you are charged, speak to a lawyer.
General information about Nigerian law and the NDLEA’s published services as of November 2026, not legal advice. Sources: ndlea.gov.ng, ndleahelpline.com.ng, the NDLEA Act, the 1999 Constitution, the ACJA 2015, the OSGF circular of December 2025 and Drug Use in Nigeria 2018 (UNODC, 2019).
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