Crime, drugs and the state in Africa

About this book

Based on previously classified government information and interviews with key officials and drug market insiders in Nigeria, this book is the first ever in-depth analysis of the international and domestic origins of illegal drug control in Africa, exploring the formulation and implementation of Nigerian drug policy between 1985 and 2010. During this period, the country came to be seen as a hub in the global drug trade and the domestic policy set in motion to tackle this perception escalated into Africa's most repressive and long-lasting anti-drug campaign. The book provocatively argues that Nigeria's drug war was not driven by an understanding of the country's drug problems but rather by political calculations made in Nigeria, the US and at the UN.