Change of Guard! ...as former NDLEA DG bids staff farewell with last assignment

Emeka Ibemere

When he was decorating Yinka Fadile, one of his staffs and technical assistant in his office who bagged a new rank, as Assistant Commander of Narcotics (ACN) of NDLEA, on June 18, 2014, at the Headquarters of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, 4 Shaw Road Ikoyi, Lagos, he was not aware that that would be his last NDLEA assignment as the Director General (DG), of the agency.

 But that was it, the next morning, when the news was broke to him that he has been appointed as the Executive Secretary of Petroleum Technology Development Trust Fund (PTDF).

President Goodluck Jonathan appointed the former Director General of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Femi Ajayi as the Executive Secretary of Petroleum Technology Development Trust Fund (PTDF), making the versatile bureaucrat, a new helmsman at the new agency.

According to the presidency, the appointment of Mr. Ajayi who replaces Dr. Oluwole Oluleye takes immediate effect.

Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Ahmadu Giade in his congratulatory message described Ajayi as an astute administrator.

“I congratulate Mr. Femi Ajayi on his new appointment. He is an astute administrator whose experience has positively impacted on the smooth running of the Agency”, he said.

“We are going to miss him but his legacies will continue to live on even in his absence, Giade stated.

Giade added that Ajayi’s appointment would further reposition PTDF for greater efficiency and effectiveness.

Femi Ajayi is a multi-disciplinary professional, a biochemist, journalist and international law expert.

Meanwhile, President Goodluck Jonathan also appointed Mrs. Roli Bode-George, as the Director-General of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), to replaced Ajayi.

The appointment which takes immediate effect was announced by the Special Adviser to the President on media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati in a terse press released to the media on Thursday night.

According to Abati, Mrs Bode-George takes over from Mr Olufemi Ajayi, who is now the Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF).

The New Director-General is the wife of the former Deputy Chairman (South West) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Commodore Bode George. Until her appointment, Mrs Bode-George was a national Commissioner at the National Population Commission. She was on the team of the NPC when the commission, led by the chairman of the commission, Eze Ihuoma visited President Jonathan to brief him on the preparation for the 2016 census.

Prior to his appointment as NDLEA Director General, Ajayi was the Senior Special Assistant to President Jonathan on Development Cooperation and Diaspora Relations.

In 2012, Ajayi was conferred with the Chieftaincy title of Otunba Ayegbaju by the Owa of Ayegbaju-Ekiti, Oba Solomon Oluwanle Adeloye in recognition of Ajayi’s contribution to community development.

Ajayi had previously served with Department For International Development (DFID) as a Senior Communication Specialist at DFID-ProPCom; Resident Coordination Specialist of the United System (2005/2006); UNICEF Communication Consultant for HIV/AIDS (2001); National Professional Officer for Communication and Informatics for UNESCO (1999/2001); United Nations Information Centre (1992 to 1999), Science Editor/Member of the Editorial Board of Daily Times (1987/90), and Media Consultant to the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) (1991).

As Science Editor/Member of the Editorial Board of Daily Times, Mr. Ajayi participated in the six-week International Workshop on Drug Abuse and Trafficking sponsored by the United States Information Agency at the Voice of America in Washington D.C. in May –June 1989, where he presented a paper on Nigeria’s Drug Scene: the challenge of Drug Demand Reduction and Prohibition.

An experienced International Civil Servant, Development Communication Specialist, and   Public Affairs Analyst, Ajayi got his first degree in Biochemistry from the University of Ife in 1981; Post-graduate Diploma in Journalism from the Times Journalism

Institute 1984; and Masters in International Law and Diplomacy from the Faculty of Law, University of Lagos, and Akoka-Lagos.

Ajayi has written many books including; Sustainable Development and Diplomacy- Nigeria’s Diplomatic Wars for Regional Progress in 2003. Also he wrote Communication for HIV/AIDS Prevention; A guidebook for practitioners in 2001 and Reporting the United Nations; A Handbook for Journalists. This is the second time; President Jonathan would be making changes at the NDLEA, especially at the DG’s position since coming into power.

The president had earlier now, removed the former Director General of NDLEA, Otunba Lanre Ipinmisho, on 8 December 2010 and replaced him with Mr. Femi Ajayi, the then Special Adviser to the President, on Development Cooperation and Diaspora Relations. Ipinmisho was replaced because his tenure of four years expired.

The chairman of NDLEA, Alhaji Ahmadu Giade, was however not replaced, since his first five years expired long ago.

 Ajayi brought intellectualism into the drug war, delivering papers on drug topical issues and trying to build a new civil service tradition in NDLEA. It was also during his tenure that the United States of America removed Nigeria from the drug list.

Ajayi while at the NDLEA tried to revive the financial strapped agency to brutally take its responsibility adequately.

While working in UN, he was equipped with some skills; one of which was resource mobilization. He decried the lack of fund militating against NDLEA.

In August 14, 2013 at the Boat Club along Awolowo Road Ikoyi, Lagos at Business Meeting of the Lagos Rotary Club of Nigeria, where Ajayi was the guest speaker, he solicited the organisation to be involved in drug war. Present at the meeting were President of the club Gbolahan Ayodele, immediate past President Hairat Balogun and other senior members of the Lagos Rotary Club, Lagos State.

As he mounts the podium to deliver his key note speech, the speaker and versatile lecturer challenged the respected audience to key into the rehabilitation of the society by starting from the drug war

 Reading his prepared speech, Ajayi called on the Rotarians to support and partner with the NDLEA in the fight against illicit drug trafficking and abuse.

Ajayi was of the view that with the influence of business tycoons and philanthropists, including opinion moulders and decision makers in the Rotary, they could help in the fight against illicit drugs in country. 

According to Femi, the Agency needs the support of all the stakeholders in the country in carrying out its crucial mandate of both drug supply and demand reduction.

In his Paper entitled: The Role of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in National Security and Sustainable Development, he said that it was unrealistic for Nigerians, both the government and the governed to expect the NDLEA to remain functional and effective in coping with ever increasing drug control challenges without the assistance of highly influential business men, women, politicians, Reverend, pastors, philanthropists, opinion moulders in Rotary club.

“Drug control is a collective humongous task that cannot be handled by the NDLEA alone. It is a shared responsibility that requires stakeholders to partner actively with the Agency by becoming advocates, goodwill ambassadors and champions of the war against drug abuse and illicit drug trafficking”. Femi stated.

He averred that drug control is at the centre of protection of public health, social safety and national security.

“By getting drugs out of circulation and away from the reach of youths and the work force, the NDLEA safeguards public health by shielding youths and able-bodied workers from drug dependence,” he explained.

Describing drug as a threat to development, Ajayi stated that drugs remain a major challenge to human civilization and development.

“Considering the huge volume of resources generated from illicit traffic in drugs, it is a serious threat to national security, the economy and development. The funds may be used to corrupt and compromise law enforcement, judicial and other government officials in order to weaken their capacity to fight crime”.

He identified inadequate funding as the most critical challenge militating against the effectiveness of the Agency. According to him, inadequate funding has made it difficult for the Agency to engage in aggressive drug prohibition and effective drug demand reduction activities.

He also tasked the Rotarians to be concerned in the dreaded war against the drug traffickers. He said hard drug is everyone’s nightmare. The many problems and collateral damages associated with the abuse and trafficking of hard drugs are not restricted to deviants or those who operate on the fringes of society as some Nigerians pretend.

“Therefore, drug abuse and trafficking should be your concern as much as mine. True, you are neither a drug courier nor a drug baron; you do not abuse, misuse, or even use narcotic drug or psychotropic substances. Perhaps, you are a tee-to-teller; you don’t even drink anything alcoholic or use any tobacco, yet, drug abuse and trafficking are still your problems”, he told his quests.