President Muhammadu Buhari has hailed the performance of the Brigadier-General Buba Marwa-led National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in their current performance to rid the streets of illicit drugs.
The President made the commendation during the recently concluded National Security Council (NSC) meeting, which he presided over in the Presidential Villa, at the Federal Capital, Abuja.
However, he has instructed on steps to be taken to improve the performance and capabilities of the agency, in line with its roles in the national fight against illicit drugs and insecurity.
This is as a result of the fact that illicit drugs have been noticed as a major enhancer of criminal and violent activities in the country.
The feeling and plans for the NDLEA as disclosed by the president himself during the NSC meeting, the National Security Adviser (NSA), Major-General Babagana Monguno, said the plan was to use all available resources to defeat the security crisis bedeviling the country.
“These enablers are discussed in details and Mr. President has already given direction on how to deal with them, specifically issues of drug abuse as propellants for crime.”
“Already Mr. President is very, very much inspired and motivated by the new leadership in the NDLEA and he is also working on measures to further enhance the capabilities and potentials of the NDLEA, which he is very, very happy about the performance in recent months”.
The National Security Council had consistently stated drug abuse and proliferation as a primary factor in the upsurge of criminality across the nation, specifically terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and other sorts of criminal activities.
The National Council of State had therefore on August 27, 2020, been briefed on the state of the nation’s security and among the threats to national security stated to the Council was the twin menace of drug trafficking and abuse, and also the status of the country being degraded to that production centre of drugs.
Briefing the State House Correspondents then immediately after the Council’s meeting, the NSA had mentioned some action plans on solving the menace of illicit drugs in the country.
