Marwa seeks int’l cooperation against drug trafficking

NAFDAC moves to promote public health at grassroots

Chairman/Chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig.-Gen. Mohammed Buba Marwa (rtd) has canvassed regional and international cooperation to successfully cut off drug supplies to the rising criminal cartels across the globe.

He made the yesterday in Banjul, Gambia during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between his organisation and the Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Gambia (DLEAG) to combat illicit production and trafficking in narcotics, psychotropic substances and their precursors.

Marwa said nations globally were daily grappling with the challenge of drug-induced crimes, and as such, must forge a common front to confront the twin evil of trafficking and abuse.

He expressed optimism that the collaboration between Nigeria and Gambia on drug war would ginger similar partnerships among other countries in West Africa and on the continent.

According to him, the pact is in furtherance of the affirmation and commitment entered into by the justice ministers of the two nations at the 62nd Session of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna, Austria.

Earlier, the Director General of DLEAG, Alhagie Bakary Gassama, commended Marwa’s leadership virtues. Also speaking, the Gambian Minister of Interior, Yankuba Sonko, applauded the initiative, pointing out that it would boost law enforcement and check drug trafficking immeasurably.

IN a related development, the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) is restating its resolve to protect vulnerable Nigerians at the grassroots from negative effects of fake drugs, unwholesome food and products in a new campaign.

Its Director-General, Prof. Moji Adeyeye, who made the disclosure at the kick-off of the awareness yesterday in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), observed that the main objective of the exercise was to expand the scope of formal and informal behaviour changes to promote public health.

She submitted: “A well-informed, sensitised and educated citizenry are the bedrock of effective regulation. This is why today’s (yesterday) event is a major milestone in our fight against fake and substandard products.

“It is common knowledge that Nigeria has preponderant share of the global problem of falsified medical products and unwholesome food and the advent of COVID-19 has aggravated the situation, making it urgent to take more action to fight the menace.”

While stressing the importance of ridding the open market of injurious consumables, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Ibrahim Oloriegbe, harped on the place of policies in the entire process. He, therefore, pledged the continued support of the upper legislative chamber for NAFDAC activities.