Marwa to NDLEA: Drug War Is Generational, Goes Beyond Arrests, Seizures

“The war against illicit drugs is not a campaign with an end date. It is a generational responsibility.

“For every cartel we dismantle, intelligence tells us another will attempt to rise. For every corridor as was we shut down, traffickers will search for another route,” Marwa said in a statement by Femi Babafemi, Director, Media and Advocacy emailed to PersecondNews on Thursday in Abuja.

He emphasized that the fight against drug trafficking could never be won by enforcement alone, noting that NGOs work quietly within communities to walk young people back from the edge of addiction.

The NDLEA Boss noted that journalists have also contributed by telling difficult stories about trafficking routes, rehabilitation and families rebuilding their lives, even when such stories were not easy to tell.

He described the awards as “the beginning of a tradition, not a closed chapter,” promising that future editions would provide opportunities to identify and recognise more individuals and organisations making similar contributions.

Marwa added that subsequent editions of the ceremony will continue to identify and honour more individuals and organisations doing similar work.

He said: “The fight against drug trafficking and substance abuse was never going to be won by enforcement alone. It is won in the communities where NGOs quietly walk young people back from the edge of addiction.

“It is won in the newsrooms where journalists chose to tell the difficult stories, the stories of trafficking routes, of rehabilitation, of families rebuilding, even when those stories were not the easiest to tell.

“Our partners in civil society and the media have been the multiplier effect on everything this Agency does. You have taken our message into homes, schools, and communities that our uniforms alone could never reach.”

Marwa highlighted some recent major operations that he said captured the character of the Agency, including the dismantling of the Amadi Simon drug cartel.

He also cited the takedown of two Nigerian-Mexican methamphetamine cartels operating within forests in Ogun and Oyo States.

The NDLEA boss further highlighted the disruption of a tramadol cartel exploiting the Togo–Benin Republic–Nigeria corridor, which he described as a route that had for years fed a crisis of opioid abuse among Nigerian youth.

“These were not simple raids. They were the product of patient intelligence-gathering, cross-border cooperation, and officers willing to go where the criminals believed no one would follow,” he noted.

The NDLEA boss charged officers of the Agency to see the honourees as a standard to reach for rather than a ceiling to stop at.

He similarly challenged partners in civil society and the media to regard the recognition as encouragement to intensify their efforts in the fight against drug abuse.

Marwa congratulated all recipients of awards and commendations, and thanked their families as well as Nigerians who continue to place their trust in the Agency.