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The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has assured the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency of further support and renewed partnership in its ongoing effort to rid the country of substance abuse and illicit drug trafficking.
The assurance was given on Wednesday in a statement signed by the Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi when the new Country Representative of UNODC in Nigeria, Mr. Cheikh Toure led a team of his top officials on a courtesy visit to the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig Gen Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.) at the Agency’s National Headquarters in Abuja.
While acknowledging the leadership role NDLEA plays in drug law enforcement in Africa, particularly the West African sub-region, the UNODC chief said his visit was to re-engage with the Agency on how to cascade the successes recorded at the national level to the states. He said this is because the drug scourge is at the basis of most of the security challenges at the subnational level.
He said, “It is very important for us to re-engage and re-energise the relationship between UNODC and NDLEA and I think that me coming here today is to tell you I want to re-engage and reinvigorate our relationship so that it serves Nigeria as a whole and also the rest of this sub-region by following your lead.
“NDLEA has been our partner and even facilitated our implementation in Nigeria. So, I want a re-engagement of UNODC with NDLEA to see how together we can develop a greater plan to support the remaining implementation of the master plan and going forward, the new stages of engagement with Nigeria. And one thing that we want to look at is how NDLEA can provide increased capacity building to West African member countries so that together we fight this menace and share best practices.”
In his remarks, Marwa appreciated the global body for its support of the agency over the years while expressing confidence that the new Country Representative will take the existing relationship to a new height. While listing some of the numerous achievements the agency has attained in the areas of drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction in the past four years with the support of local and international partners including the UNODC, the NDLEA boss said the visit by the team provided the opportunity to present before them some of the areas they should consider in their support for the agency.
He asked the UNODC to support the agency’s Alternative Development Programme, which is the first in Africa, aimed at providing alternative means of livelihood for cannabis growers.
He said, “And so, if we can provide an alternative, that would be good for them and for society. And so that’s one of the areas that I would like greater collaboration. We need some support on this.
“The drug use survey is another project that we need support. The one published in 2018 is quite stale and we need a re-assessment, I remember two or three years ago in Vienna, I spoke to the Director of UNODC directly about the need. Happily, now it’s in your sights I understand. So, that’s a most welcome development for us to reassess, to see what is the prevalence now, what are the new trends and so on and so forth.
“The National Drug Control Master Plan is another area of need. The current master plan is 2021-2025. Another one is due. So, that’s certainly one more area that we would work together towards. Then capacity building and training. This is key to our work because, in every organisation, the bottom-line is the personnel. So, this capacity building has helped us and we need more master trainers. Let me conclude with the tools; we need handy field test kits. You can check and see what’s going to be possible now, what will be possible next year, and so on. Just to help us continue to do the work that we’re doing.”
