Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and its Saudi Arabian counterpart, General Directorate of Narcotics Control (GDNC), have agreed to strengthen their partnership in the fight against trafficking of illicit drugs between the two countries.
This was the resolution reached after a two-day discussion of the anti-narcotics unit of both countries, discussing how to tackle the menace of drug inflows into their respective borders.
According to a statement by the spokesperson of the Nigerian drug law enforcer, Mr Femi Babafemi, there was a dialogue on Monday and Tuesday between the Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Mr Buba Marwa and the representative of GDNC, Mr Naser Hajid Al Otaibi.
Mr Marwa, while welcoming the Saudi official, expressed appreciation for the support received from the Saudi authorities in the past.
He said: “Considering the need for an enduring partnership, we propose a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation between the two agencies in combating trafficking in narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and its precursors to GDNC for consideration and signing just like we recently did with Drug Law Enforcement Agency, in The Gambia.”
He assured his guest that Nigeria is presently taking the war against drug abuse and trafficking very seriously and that explains why President Muhammadu Buhari has been giving all the needed support to the NDLEA to actualise its mandate and mission.
The NDLEA boss asked the Saudi government for support especially in the areas of technical assistance and donation of equipment such as scanners, forensic laboratories and rehabilitation centres.
On his part, Mr Al Otaibi, the GDNC representative, extended an open invitation to Marwa to visit the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia so as to deepen discussions on various aspects of effective collaboration between the NDLEA and the GDNC, an invitation the NDLEA chairman accepted with the hope that such will provide the opportunity to sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the partnership between the two anti-narcotics agencies.
