Gov’t introduces mental health and drug tests for security recruits amid suicide concerns – Interior Minister

The Minister for the Interior, Mubarak Mohammed Muntaka, has revealed that the government is introducing mental health assessments and drug testing into medical screening for security service recruits, following concerns about drug use among personnel and suicide cases within the services.

Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Monday, October 12, Mr Muntaka said the decision followed observations that some serving officers were struggling with drug-related problems, prompting questions about how they had passed the recruitment process.

He explained that a review of the existing medical screening requirements showed that mental health assessments and drug tests had not previously been included.

The minister said the government had consequently decided to incorporate the additional checks, stressing the need to identify potential challenges early and strengthen the recruitment process.

Mr Muntaka also cited suicide cases recorded among security personnel in 2025 and 2026 as a key reason for the intervention.

He disclosed that the government was requiring security agencies to establish dedicated welfare desks to pay closer attention to officers experiencing difficulties, including those facing mental health and drug-related challenges.

According to him, personnel welfare must go beyond conventional support arrangements to ensure officers struggling with such problems can be identified and appropriately supported.

The minister further highlighted the growing concern over drug-related activities among young people, revealing that the Narcotics Control Commission conducted more than 2,117 drug education programmes nationwide in 2025.

He said the programmes reached basic and secondary schools, churches, mosques and organised groups, complementing the commission’s enforcement activities with public education.

However, Mr Muntaka expressed particular concern about an emerging trend in which secondary school students were allegedly becoming directly involved in selling drugs within their schools.

Drawing a comparison with the practice of pupils secretly selling sweets in classrooms in the past, he said the situation had changed, with some students now selling drugs themselves rather than merely receiving them from outsiders.