Is it legal in Nigeria? Drug law, penalties and sources

What governs drugs in Nigeria

Drug offences in Nigeria are governed by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act, Cap. N30, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, enforced by the NDLEA and tried in the Federal High Court. Part II of that Act separates supply from possession.

Importing, manufacturing, growing, exporting, transporting, trafficking, selling or buying cocaine, LSD, heroin or a similar drug each carries imprisonment for life under section 11. Knowingly possessing such a drug carries not less than fifteen years and not more than twenty-five under section 19, and the same range applies under section 11(d) to using one by smoking, inhaling or injecting it. Section 20 adds the Convention-based offences, including cultivation of the cannabis plant, and section 20(2) sets those at life for most and fifteen to twenty-five years for the rest.

Medicines are handled separately. Tramadol, codeine and the prescription stimulants sit inside the NAFDAC Controlled Medicines Regulations 2019, where the offence is supply outside the licensed channel rather than the substance itself.

The NDLEA Act prescribes no death penalty. Its maximum is imprisonment for life.

Two Acts reach cannabis at the same time

Two Acts reach cannabis in Nigeria concurrently, and that is why published accounts of Nigerian cannabis law disagree with one another.

The Indian Hemp Act, Cap. I6, Laws of the Federation 2004, is a cannabis-specific statute and it is still in force. Its section 2(1) makes knowingly planting or cultivating a cannabis plant punishable, in the words of the Act, “either to death or to imprisonment for a term of not less than twenty-one years”. Its section 5(1) covers smoking and simple possession, and reads: “Any person who – (a) smokes any Indian hemp; or (b) knowingly has any Indian hemp in his possession, Shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term of not less than four years without the option of a fine”.

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act reaches the same conduct by a different route. Sections 11 and 19 name only cocaine, LSD and heroin, and then extend to “any other similar drugs”. Section 20(1)(b) covers cultivation of the cannabis plant and section 20(2)(a) sets that at imprisonment for life.

That extension is not a prosecutor’s theory. The Supreme Court settled it in Okewu v Federal Republic of Nigeria (2012) NWLR (Pt. 1305) 327 at 367, per Ariwoola JSC, quoted by the Court of Appeal in Stanley Ossai v Federal Republic of Nigeria: “I am not in the slightest doubt and I hereby say with conviction that the Court below was right that the substance called Indian hemp, otherwise known as cannabis sativa, a fall within the phrase ‘any other similar drugs’ used in section 10(h) of the NDLEA Act, pursuant to which the appellant was charged and sentenced by the tribunal.” The wording “a fall” is as reported.

So which Act is charged decides the penalty, and both are available. An account citing only the Indian Hemp Act reports a possible death sentence. An account citing only the NDLEA Act reports life imprisonment as the maximum. Both are reading a real statute, and neither is describing the whole position.

No reported case imposing that death penalty was found. None of the recent Nigerian drug sentencings examined here was charged under the Indian Hemp Act, although its section 5(1)(b) has appeared in separate reported possession prosecutions, most recently in 2018. Modern federal cannabis prosecutions commonly proceed under the NDLEA Act.

The penalty structure, by section

Every substance confirmed against a primary source

57 substances have a status for Nigeria verified against a named statute. Each row links to the full entry, with the consequences, the prescription position and the source.

Not separately listed

Sources

• National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act, Cap. N30, LFN 2004, ss. 11, 19, 20 and 21 Read verbatim from this copy and from lawsofnigeria.placng.org, which agree word for word on all four sections.
• Indian Hemp Act, Cap. I6, LFN 2004, ss. 1 to 3
• Indian Hemp Act, Cap. I6, LFN 2004, ss. 5 and 6 Cited here rather than the PLAC transcription, which renders “fine” as “tine” in this subsection.
• Okewu v Federal Republic of Nigeria (2012) NWLR (Pt. 1305) 327 at 367, per Ariwoola JSC, quoted in Stanley Ossai v Federal Republic of Nigeria (Court of Appeal)
• NAFDAC Controlled Medicines Regulations 2019, regs. 14 and 15

Statute text on this page is quoted from the copies linked above. Last verified October 3, 2026.