‘Drug War Is Generational Responsibility,’ Marwa Tells NDLEA Officers
...Honours 274 Personnel 18 Commands, 19 NGOs, Media Organisations
The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd.), has charged officers to remain committed to the fight against substance abuse and drug trafficking, describing it as a generational responsibility.
Marwa gave the charge during the 12th Chairman/Chief Executive Officer’s Commendations and Awards ceremony at the Agency’s national headquarters in Abuja on Thursday, August 13, 2026.
During the event, the NDLEA boss honoured 274 personnel for outstanding performance in the discharge of their duties, as well as 18 best-performing commands and 19 NGOs and media organisations for their commitment to the War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) advocacy in Nigeria.
“The war against illicit drugs is not a campaign with an end date. It is a generational responsibility. For every cartel we dismantle, intelligence tells us another will attempt to rise. For every corridor we shut down, traffickers will search for another route,” he said.
Marwa explained that the fight against drug trafficking could never be won by enforcement alone, noting that NGOs work quietly within communities to walk young people back from the edge of addiction, while journalists have told difficult stories about trafficking routes, rehabilitation, and family recovery that are not always easy to tell.
He acknowledged that many more deserving organisations and media platforms exist across the country beyond the honourees, describing the gesture as “the beginning of a tradition, not a closed chapter”.
He also assured that subsequent editions of the ceremony would continue to identify and honour more individuals and organisations doing similar work.
“The fight against drug trafficking and substance abuse was never going to be won by enforcement alone. It is won in the communities where NGOs quietly walk young people back from the edge of addiction. It is won in the newsrooms where journalists chose to tell the difficult stories, the stories of trafficking routes, of rehabilitation, of families rebuilding, even when those stories were not the easiest to tell,” Marwa affirmed.
“Our partners in civil society and the media have been the multiplier effect on everything this Agency does. You have taken our message into homes, schools, and communities that our uniforms alone could never reach.”
He highlighted some recent major operations that captured the character of the Agency, including the dismantling of the Amadi Simon drug cartel; the takedown of two Nigerian-Mexican methamphetamine cartels operating within forests in Ogun and Oyo States; and the disruption of a tramadol cartel exploiting the Togo–Benin Republic–Nigeria corridor, which he described as a route that had for years fed a crisis of opioid abuse among Nigerian youth.
“These were not simple raids. They were the product of patient intelligence-gathering, cross-border cooperation, and officers willing to go where the criminals believed no one would follow,” he stated.
Marwa charged officers of the Agency to see the honourees as a standard to reach for rather than a ceiling to stop at, and urged partners in civil society and the media to view the recognition as an invitation to do more, not a reward to rest on.
He further congratulated all recipients of awards and commendations and thanked their families, as well as Nigerians who continue to place their trust in the Agency.
