Nigeria has been elected to host the next conference of Heads of Drug Law Enforcement Agencies Africa (HONLEA), in 2023.
By Emma Ogbuehi
Election of the country to host summit was the unanimous decision of the regional network at the close of its 2022 annual meeting in Nairobi, Kenya at the weekend.
The move by other heads of anti-narcotics agencies in Africa to have Nigeria host the 2023 conference followed the country’s good relationship with others on the continent and NDLEAs exemplary performance in the renewed fight against substance abuse and illicit drug trafficking.
This comes as the Chairman of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), held bilateral meetings with Kenyan, Gambian, Ghanaian, South African counterparts.
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In the course of the weeklong conference, Marwa led the Nigerian delegation in presentations on every item of the agenda for discussion, where he shared the country’s experience and successes so far recorded in the drug war as a result of bilateral and multi-lateral cooperation with other stakeholders in Nigeria and partners at both regional and international levels.
On the sidelines of the conference, he also led his team in bilateral meetings with his counterparts from Kenya, Gambia, Ghana and South Africa on areas of mutual interests such as intelligence sharing, joint operations, training and exchange programmes, among others.
The meetings also agreed on the setting up of technical working groups on both sides to work on Memorandums of Understanding that will formalize the partnerships and working relationships.
Marwa had in his discussions at the bilateral meetings emphasized the need to build new and strengthen existing partnerships among anti-narcotics agencies at the sub-regional and regional levels to make trafficking of illicit drugs and movement of drug lords difficult on the Africa continent.