Marwa tasks NDLEA officers to intensify war against illicit drugs

* Boosts their morale with award, cash gift

By KEMI KASUMU

Chairman/Chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig. Genre Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) has charged men and officers of the agency to intensify the fight against drug abuse and trafficking so as to rid the country of hard drugs.

Mr. Femi Babafemi, Director of Media and Advocacy, NDLEA, made this known in a statement he sent to The DEFENDER on Monday.

He applauded them for the achievements recorded within the short period he assumed office as chairman of the agency , stating that reward for hardwork is more work.

The NDLEA boss, who gave the charge when he visited the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) Command and the Lagos State Command alongside other directors of the agency to boost their moral, declared that the renewed war against drug trafficking is a fight to finish. He urged them not to relent in their efforts.

Marwa who expressed satisfaction with the record of activities of the agency in the last two months, disclosed that for the whole of 2019, MMIA Command only recovered 34. 109 kg of cocaine and 21.72 kg of heroine but with less than three months in year 2021, the command had seized 63. 217 kg of cocaine and 950 kg heroine.

The NDLEA boss said on his assumption of office, he had a meeting with all top commanders where he promised to reward any command with the most outstanding performance bi-monthly, adding that based on his promise, the MMIA Command merited the award. He thereafter presented the Commander , Ahmadu Garba with a plaque and a cash gift.

The NDLEA boss said, he was aware of all the challenges being faced by the officers in the course of performing their responsibilities but promised that very soon everything would be resolved. He charged them to be up and doing and not to relent despite the challenges.

In his words:”I am aware of what is going on here, both operationally and administratively, and I must congratulate this command for your tenacity, efforts and aggressiveness, you cannot win this war against drugs by sitting down, we must go on the offensive on a daily basis, we should take the war personal because we are Nigerians, those who are bringing in these drugs want to corrupt and destroy our own children, so, we are attacking the problem professionally with the agency, we are also doing it for ourselves and for our families and for our communities. We can’t allow people to come into Nigeria to destroy us. And you have done very well so far, and I urge you to keep it up. If you open the newspapers today or watch television everyday, you will see crimes; either that they are kidnapping school children or killing people; they all use drugs before going to perpetrate this evil, and until we tackle this issue of drug we may not see the end of insecurity, it has to go together.

“I know that you need more men and women in this command and very soon the training of the new recruits will commence and from there, we are going to give you more personnel and other commands. Very soon different equipment will come in, including scanners. When I took over I found the morale of our officers very low and I know you are all trying very hard to meet up your responsibilities while we still owe you a lot of money, but I am giving you assurance that your welfare is a priority. We have made appropriate representations to the appropriate authorities and I have received the assurance that they have listened to us, so, we are confident that within this budget year, we will get relief”

The NDLEA boss thereafter visited Lagos State Command of the agency where he also reiterated his commitment to the welfare of men and officers. He equally met civil society stakeholders where he called for their partnership. He thereafter led his team on a visit to the 81 Division of the Nigerian Army where he sought the support of the military for the NDLEA in its operations.