The Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), has warned women and young Nigerians seeking to expand their businesses and access global markets against illicit drug trafficking, urging them to protect their health, judgement, and business integrity.
Marwa gave the warning at the Aspire Women Forum masterclass themed “From Survival to Thriving: Empowering Women and Youth for Export Readiness, Global Market Access, and Prosperity under the Renewed Hope Agenda,” held at the Conference Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Wednesday, October 28, 2026.
He cautioned participants against allowing financial pressure, disappointment, curiosity or the desire to belong to draw them into substance abuse, stressing that drugs would neither solve business problems nor end hardship, but would only worsen them.
Addressing participants preparing to trade across borders, the NDLEA boss urged them to verify their business partners and transactions, know exactly what they were shipping and avoid carrying packages they had not packed themselves.
He warned that a single contaminated consignment could cost an exporter their freedom, damage their family’s reputation and close markets that they and Nigeria had worked hard to access.
Marwa noted that export readiness depended on integrity, reliable products, proper standards, accurate documentation, and dependable service. He encouraged participants to take practical steps towards business growth, including formalising their businesses, improving record-keeping, strengthening digital skills, and preparing their products for wider markets.
He also welcomed the programme’s focus on confidence, emotional intelligence, managing pressure and family balance, alongside enterprise development and export readiness, advising participants to pursue their ambitions with discipline and resilience.
Assuring persons struggling with drug dependence that seeking help was an act of courage rather than shame, Marwa drew attention to the NDLEA’s toll-free helpline, 080010203040, which operates 24 hours a day.
He explained that calls to the Agency’s call centre were answered by trained professionals, including clinical psychologists, psychotherapists and psychiatry doctors, in English, Pidgin, Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba. He urged parents, mentors, and community leaders to guide those in need towards treatment rather than isolation.
Marwa commended Aspire Women Forum for bringing together women and young people to receive training and connect with markets, finance, and institutions capable of supporting their businesses. He also pledged the NDLEA’s readiness to partner with the Forum through the Agency’s War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) social advocacy initiative.
In his keynote address, Vice President Kashim Shettima stated that sustainable national prosperity must be built on productive enterprise, investment, innovation and the capacity of Nigerians to create value, in line with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
Shettima, who was represented by the Special Assistant to the President on Humanitarian Affairs and Development Partners, Inna Binta Audu, described the transition from survival to thriving as both an economic imperative and a national development priority.
He said that the ambition to build a one-trillion-dollar economy could not be achieved by government alone, noting that it required an ecosystem in which businesses could emerge, grow, compete, and contribute to national development.
According to him, women and young people must occupy a central place in that ecosystem because their economic participation expands productive capacity, strengthens household incomes, creates employment, and widens opportunities for future generations.
He stressed that inclusion must go beyond training programmes and empowerment announcements to provide people with access to the tools, institutions, and markets needed to turn their skills into sustainable income.
The Vice President commended the Aspire Women Forum for organising the masterclass, praising its founder, Dr. Zainab Marwa, and the institutions and partners whose collaboration made the event possible.
In her welcome address, the Founder and President of Aspire Women Forum, Dr. Zainab Marwa, noted that many Nigerians engaged in production, trading, sewing, farming, food processing, and service provision worked long hours but ended the month with little left, often because of practical business challenges.
Dr. Marwa identified poor record-keeping, lack of business registration, unsuitable financing, weak packaging, and limited access to buyers as some of the obstacles preventing entrepreneurs from achieving sustainable growth.
She commended the Federal Government under President Tinubu for supporting enterprise and economic inclusion through the Renewed Hope Agenda, including intervention financing for small businesses through the Bank of Industry and attention to skills development and digital enterprise.
The founder emphasised that the masterclass was designed to help participants understand how to access and benefit from such opportunities.
She disclosed that participation had deliberately been extended to young men alongside women and young women because uncertain income affected entire households, while reaffirming the organisation’s commitment to women’s advancement.
Marwa added that the Forum would sustain its engagement with participants beyond the masterclass through a dedicated Aspire team responsible for communication, referrals, and further learning.
She expressed gratitude to the Vice President for the support his office provided to the initiative, as well as to the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, whose meeting with her in Geneva strengthened her resolve to pursue the vision, and Dr. Queen Onyinye Okpa, Founder of Women in Agribusiness, Trade and Export (WATEX), among other supporters.
