NDLEA Promotes Over 5,000 Officers As 15 Commands, 70 Personnel Receive Special Awards

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has promoted no fewer than 5,000 and forty-two (5,042) personnel.

This follows the approval of the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the anti-narcotics agency, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Rtd), which saw two senior officers elevated to the rank of Deputy Commander General of Narcotics (DCGN), 22 others as Assistant Commander General of Narcotics (ACGN), and 66 as Commander of Narcotics (CN).

The promotion, which came after weeks of examination and interviews for qualified candidates, is part of a larger effort to improve human resource management, particularly staff motivation and welfare, in order to achieve organisational goals more efficiently and effectively.

Speaking in Abuja on Wednesday at an event to confer new ranks on some of the promoted officers and reward 15 commands and 70 personnel for outstanding performances in the first half of 2024, Marwa (Rtd) stated that prompt and timely promotion of all deserving and qualified officers remains a top priority for his leadership.

He stated, “I am pleased to say that we continue to wax stronger on this journey we embarked on three and a half years ago when we decided to turn around the fortunes of this agency by improving our performance as a precursor to reversing the perilous drug use situation in our dear country, Nigeria.”

“On the occasion of the 8th edition of the commands’ awards and commendations ceremony, we have every reason to be grateful because our performance has consistently justified our conviction in Offensive Action, WADA, and other reforms that we implemented.

“We have received recognition for our modest efforts both at home and abroad. That means we need to do more. Work well done is rewarded with more work, and in our case, we cannot rest until all of our mandate’s objectives have been met. May I remind us that the bottom line is a drug-free Nigeria?

“On our part as management, we are attempting to maintain motivation by ensuring that we provide everything required to make this work safe, secure, and conducive for everyone working in this agency. Our new barracks in Adamawa, Abuja, and Lagos are almost finished and will be commissioned shortly. The recent promotion of 5,053 officers demonstrates our commitment to prompt and timely promotion of officers. It represents our efforts to break the jinx of stagnation, which was previously an albatross for our personnel.

“To improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our operations, we are establishing five strategic command centres in Lagos, FCT, MMIA, Apapa, and Tincan. In this regard, we will also deploy body cameras for our officers to use during strategic operations to ensure their safety and the integrity of such operations.

He charged the agency’s officers, men and women, to carry out their duties with integrity, saying, “Let me also take this opportunity to convey some messages to the NDLEA personnel. We have come a long ways. In three and a half years, we have taken down up to 50 identifiable drug cartels, some of which are key players in the distribution of cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine in the country and on a global scale. We have seized massive amounts of illicit drugs and convicted record numbers of drug offenders.

“We have accomplished many milestones without jeopardising our integrity, and I expect us to continue on this path. Our fundamental values of integrity, hard work, and transparency, among others, must be upheld at all times. We must continue to justify the trust placed in us by society, our government, and the international partners and governments that support us around the world. We have raised the bar, and it must not be lowered at any cost or through any means.

“That is to say, we will not tolerate any reports of infractions, indiscipline, or corruption from the field or any command. The least we ask of any officer in this proud agency is that they be upright and committed to our goals, while management continues to work on our behalf. The progress made over the last three years has put the trials of the previous 30 years behind us. We owe the agency our allegiance in order to maintain its integrity. We owe it to the public not to betray the trust they have placed in us. We owe it to our government, as well as our partners and stakeholders, to complete the task at hand.

“Therefore, we must not fail to provide the necessary sacrifice, patriotism, commitment, honesty, hard work, and all of the virtues associated with this important job and service to the nation and humanity. You have my assurance, as well as that of the NDLEA management, that we will not give up in our pursuit of creating the best paradigm of work, welfare, and reward for you.

Following the ceremony, the NDLEA boss convened a closed-door meeting with all commanders and directors to outline the tasks ahead for implementation in their respective areas of responsibility.