Emeka Ibemere
The heavy
downpour of Wednesday, 24 September 2014, didn’t disrupt Michel Arion,
Ambassador and Head of Delegation of the European Union (EU) to Nigeria and
ECOWAS not to hand over 100 desktop and 15 laptop computers to the National
Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), at the Agency’s headquarters at the Shaw
Road Ikoyi, Lagos State.
The event
was the European Union’s funding of a large-scale project, tagged: “Response to
Drugs and Related Organized Crime in Nigeria”, which is being implemented by
the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crimes (UNODC).
The
project was to support Nigeria’s efforts in fighting illicit drug production,
trafficking and use, and to curb related organized crimes, including
counterfeit narcotics and psychotropic substances.
Delivering
his welcome address at the occasion, Alhaji Ahmadu Giade, the Chairman and
Chief Executive of the NDLEA, who also received the delegation, said that
regional and international cooperation is vital to global success in narcotic
control.
“Drug
trafficking like terrorism and arms smuggling represents a growing threat to
global peace and security. Many lives are being lost on a daily basis around
the world. Activities of drug cartels have turned the world into a global
village thus making international partnership among drug law officers, donors
and international institutions inevitable”.
According
to the NDLEA boss, “this project demonstrates EU’s willingness to assist
countries in the implementation of international drug conventions. It will also
provide appropriate framework for regional drug control programmes. The
challenges posed by illicit drug cultivation, trafficking and abuse are
enormous. We therefore believe that through shared responsibility, greater
progress will be made in addressing the illicit drug phenomenon”.
Giade
enumerated some benefits of the EU project to Nigeria and West Africa. He
stated that the project would enhance technical and operational capacity in
frontline Agencies leading to targeted interventions on drugs and organized
related crimes in Nigeria.
According
to him, it would help to manage drug abuse counselling, drug treatment and
rehabilitation through the creation of a reliable network of quality drug
treatment service providers.
He said
the EU intervention has brought about dynamic and positive changes to the
operations of NDLEA and would further enhance the technical and operational
capacity of frontline agencies, leading to targeted interventions on drugs and
related organized crime in Nigeria. It would be recalled that NDLEA is one of
the key partners in the project.
Responding,
Michael Arion said. “A key output of the project is to increase the capacity of
drug law enforcement agencies to prevent or interdict drug trafficking and
related crime. Hence the need to enhance NDLEA’s capacity to collect, analyze and
share structured information”.
Donation
of the computers was part of the IT and equipment support by the project
towards the development of a data exchange centre at NDLEA headquarters and the
establishment of an ICT platform across NDLEA Commands. It was expected to
ultimately help transform NDLEA into an intelligence-led law enforcement
agency.
“We are
assisting NDLEA to become an intelligence-led organization equipped to deal
with the challenges of the ever-changing drug industry. A lot has been achieved
in less than two years of project implementation, but a lot more still remains
to be done,” said Mariam Sissoko.
Also
during the handing over ceremony, Michel Arion officially opened a project
support office provided to UNODC by NDLEA within its headquarters. The office
space and furnishings were provided by NDLEA and it was renovated and equipped
with funds from the EU. The office has been operational since February 2014.
Daily
Newswatch understands that in order to strengthen regional and international
cooperation in the fight against narcotic drugs, the European Union (EU) and
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) are working with the Nigerian
government to improve regional and international cooperation in drug control.
The EU
Ambassador also stressed the need to curtail the activities of drug syndicates
through collaboration adding that EU is providing funds for Project NGAV 16 - Response
to Drugs and Related Organised Crime.
“At
inter-continental level, the European Union finances a number of projects as
part of the Cocaine Route Programme. The Cocaine Route programme with a budget
of over 30 million Euros covers 36 countries of which half are in Africa,
essentially West-Africa, five in the Caribbean countries and the remaining in
Latin and Central America,” Arrion further stated.
UNODC
country representative Sissoko said that her office is working with the NDLEA
to tackle the drug menace.
“We are
working with the NDLEA to assist the Agency progress towards an
intelligence-led organization equipped to deal with the challenges of the ever
changing drug industry. We commend the Chairman and senior management of the
NDLEA for decisively embarking on the change management process that is
required to strengthen the intelligence-based response of NDLEA to drug
matters”, she stated.
Similarly,
the National Drug Control Master Plan (NDCMP) 2015-2019, a policy document for
drug control is almost finalized. The master plan contains new ideas and new
control approaches which will be implemented in the next four years.
The EU
has procured 100 desktop computers for the smooth takeoff of a Data Exchange
Centre. This would help to establish an evidence based approach in addressing
the challenges of illicit drugs in the country. Under the project an
institutional assessment of the Agency was conducted which recommended capacity
building and improved funding as the way forward for the Agency. Present at the
occasion were Alhaji Ahmadu Giade, Chairman and Chief Executive of NDLEA; Mrs.
Roli Bode-George, Director-General NDLEA; Ms Mariam Sissoko, Country
Representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in
Nigeria; other staff of the EU, UNODC and NDLEA, and the media.
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