The UN Office on Drugs and Crime has assured the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) of further support and renewed partnership to rid the country of substance abuse and illicit drug trafficking.

The new UNODC country representative, Cheikh Toure, gave the assurance on Wednesday in Abuja when he led a team of top officials on a courtesy visit to the NDLEA headquarters.

Mr Toure acknowledged the leadership role NDLEA played in drug law enforcement in Africa, particularly in the West African sub-region.

The UNODC chief said his visit was to re-engage with the agency on how to cascade the successes recorded at the national level to the states.

This, he said, was because the drug scourge was at the basis of most of the security challenges at the subnational level.

According to him, it is important to re-engage and re-energise the relationship between UNODC and NDLEA.

The NDLEA chairman, Buba Marwa, commended UN0DC for supporting the agency over the years while expressing confidence that the representative would take the existing relationship to a new height.

The NDLEA boss listed some of the numerous achievements the agency had attained in the areas of drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction in the past four years.

He said this was with the support of local and international partners, including the UNODC.

Mr Marwa said the visit by the team provided the opportunity to present before them some of the areas they should consider in their support for the agency.

He asked the UNODC to support the agency’s Alternative Development Programme, which was the first in Africa, aimed at providing alternative means of livelihood for cannabis growers.

The NDLEA boss also requested tools and emphasised capacity building and training for personnel “because every organisation, the bottom line is the personnel.”

“You can check and see what’s going to be possible now, what will be possible next year, and so on. Just to help us continue to do the work that we’re doing,” he said.

(NAN)