Nigeria: Drug War - U.S. Agency Pledges Support for NDLEA

A delegation of senior officials of the United States Africa Command has visited the chairman/chief executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig-Gen. Mohamed Marwa (rtd) and commended the existing relationship between the two organisations.

It pledged enhanced collaboration and partnership with the Nigerian outfit in its fight against illicit drugs.

The leader of the team, Philip Esch, who is the US Drug Enforcement Administration Liaison to AFRICOM, said the relationship between NDLEA and US-DEA is not only a partnership but highly important to the US government.

He commended Marwa for providing good leadership and being open to international partnerships.

NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, said another member of the delegation, James Elseth, expressed excitement about supporting the NDLEA due to the agency's tremendous work in Nigeria, which is also contributing to the security of other countries.

According to him, "I want to thank you, General, because you have a regional mindset and an international mindset, which is showing clearly in the scope and impact of your work. Many countries we work with are primarily focused on their own country. And just like DEA and FBI, we have an international mindset to try to stop organised crime from impacting our respective countries."

He commended the NDLEA for providing adequate maintenance of equipment and facilities earlier provided by the US government, while assuring that two major projects were already underway to further support the Agency, in addition to training and other initiatives.

In his response, Marwa expressed appreciation for the visit and commended the ongoing support from US-AFRICOM to the NDLEA, while congratulating Esch on his years of meritorious service to the US government.

According to him, "We appreciate the ongoing support from AFRICOM very much. I must also say that whatever we are achieving is due to this kind of support from you and our other international partners, and more importantly, due to the commitment and encouragement from the renewed hope administration of President Bola Tinubu".

He urged the team to continue to support NDLEA, especially because of the nexus between illicit drugs and terrorism. He said the Agency will appreciate more support on scanning equipment at airports, digital forensic tools, portable drug detection equipment, forensic laboratory equipment and sniffer dogs, among others.

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