The Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd.), has charged officers and personnel of the Agency to remain resilient in the fight against illicit drugs, stressing that the battle against drug abuse and trafficking must continue across generations.
Marwa gave the charge on Thursday, August 13, 2026, at the 12th Chairman/Chief Executive Officer’s Commendations and Awards ceremony held at the NDLEA National Headquarters in Abuja.
According to an official statement signed by Femi Babafemi, Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA, Marwa honoured 274 personnel for outstanding performance in the discharge of their duties, as well as 18 best-performing commands and 19 NGOs and media organisations for their contributions to the War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) advocacy campaign.
The NDLEA Chairman said the persistent nature of the drug challenge required sustained commitment, noting that criminal networks would continue to adapt even as law enforcement agencies dismantled their operations.
“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 we shut down, traffickers will search for another route,” Marwa said.
He therefore urged NDLEA officers, men and women to remain steadfast in their duties, stressing that the recognition of outstanding personnel should serve as motivation for others to raise their performance.
Marwa also emphasised that enforcement alone could not defeat drug trafficking and substance abuse, calling for stronger community-based interventions, advocacy and collaboration with civil society organisations and the media.
“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,” he said.
According to him, journalists also play an important role by bringing the realities of drug trafficking, rehabilitation and recovery to public attention.
“It is won in the newsrooms where journalists choose 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,” he said.
Marwa described the Agency’s partners in civil society and the media as a “multiplier effect” on its anti-drug campaign, saying their activities had enabled the NDLEA to take its message into homes, schools and communities beyond the reach of conventional enforcement.
“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,” he said.
Highlighting some of the Agency’s recent major operations, Marwa cited the dismantling of the Amadi Simon drug cartel, the takedown of two Nigerian-Mexican methamphetamine cartels operating in forests in Ogun and Oyo States, and the disruption of a tramadol cartel exploiting the Togo–Benin Republic–Nigeria corridor.
He said the disruption of the tramadol network was significant because the route had contributed to the opioid abuse crisis among Nigerian youths.
“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,” Marwa said.
The NDLEA Chairman urged personnel to regard the award recipients as a standard to aspire to rather than a ceiling on their performance, while encouraging civil society and media partners to see the recognition as an invitation to intensify their contributions.
He noted that many other deserving organisations and media platforms across the country were yet to be recognised, describing the awards as “the beginning of a tradition, not a closed chapter.”
Marwa assured that subsequent editions of the ceremony would continue to identify and honour individuals and organisations making significant contributions to the fight against drug abuse and trafficking.
He congratulated all recipients of the awards and commendations and expressed appreciation to their families and Nigerians for their continued support and confidence in the Agency.
The ceremony reinforced the NDLEA’s emphasis on sustained enforcement, intelligence gathering, community engagement and collaboration with civil society and the media as key components of Nigeria’s long-term response to drug abuse and illicit drug trafficking.
