The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) says it will deploy personnel to 774 local government areas in 2024 to strengthen the war against substance abuse and illicit drug trafficking, especially in local communities.

This is contained in a statement issued by NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi on Friday in Abuja.

The NDLEA chairman, Brig.-Gen. Buba Marwa (Rtd) disclosed the deployment plans while responding to a request for partnership and deployment of more NDLEA officers in all parts of Katsina by Governor Dikko Radda.

Mr Marwa said, “With the agency’s staff strength expected to rise to 15,000 by the end of the year, the next development is to deploy in the LGAs.

“We currently have zonal commands, state commands, and area commands. We want to go to the LGAs for the offensive action and the advocacy work.”

The NDLEA boss emphasised that the agency needed more support to curb illicit drug use and trafficking, just as he lauded the Katsina governor’s running of the state. 

“We would need more support to succeed. I appreciate the work of the Katsina governor, as the challenges are numerous in governing the state.

“But if insecurity is a problem and is fuelled by drugs, I believe we have to collectively take it out of the security equation,’’ he said.

Mr Marwa appealed to the Katsina government to have a state drug control committee of which the NDLEA would be the secretary and the chairperson would be the state’s First Lady. 

Speaking, Mr Radda said he was at the agency as part of his government’s efforts to solve the problem of insecurity facing the state.

Mr Radda said it was no longer news that the problem of insecurity had been ongoing for years and insecurity was one of the major issues confronting Katsina state.

“We decided to reach out to the NDLEA under the leadership of the chairman to combine our efforts and synergise to mitigate the effect of insecurity in the state,” the governor added. 

(NAN)