The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) would be overhauled and expanded, its new Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Brig Gen Mohammed Buba Marwa, has said.
Marwa, who resumed office at the NDLEA Headquarters in Abuja on Monday, said the overhauling and expansion will be in line with the recommendations of the Presidential Advisory Committee for the Elimination of Drug Abuse (PACEDA).
The new chairman, who had served as chairman of PACEDA, said it will also be within existing financial constraints, and the authorisation of the appropriate superior authorities.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday October 18, 2019 received the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Elimination of Drug Abuse (PACEDA) report at the Council Chamber of the State House, Abuja
The committee was constituted in January 2019 to research on ways drug abuse in the country can be eliminated.
The new NDLEA boss said the number of drug users in Nigeria today is over 15 million people, across all ages.
He said drug use has eaten very deeply into our social fabric as every community in Nigeria is affected, and it is the task of the Agency to check the problem.
Marwa said as a lead agency in the drug war in Nigeria, they were familiar with the extent of the devastation that drug use has caused our nation.
He vowed to resuscitate and reposition NDLEA to full active life, to be effective, respected and feared by concerned criminals
He said: “Together, by the grace of God, we will resuscitate and reposition NDLEA to full active life, to be effective, respected and feared by concerned criminals. Nigeria is the only country we have, we cannot fold our arms. We can, will and must eliminate the drug scourge.”
