The United States of America has indicated a commitment to support the Nigerian National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA with forensics and chemical analysis capacity as well as intelligence gathering capacity in the discharge of their duty.
Vigil360 learned that the spokesperson of the agency, Femi Babafemi made this known in a statement. The support was disclosed by the US Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs comes after the BUA CEO Abdul Samad Rabiu Initiative declared an award of an N500 million grant to fund selected projects in the anti-narcotics agency in Nigeria.
Babafemi in his statement partly reads, “According to an official letter announcing the US project grant to the NDLEA, the award followed requests by the Chairman, NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (retd.), during a series of meetings with top US officials both in Abuja and in Washington DC. The letter noted that the project will be implemented by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Nigeria.
He explained that “Aside from the support for the forensic and chemical analysis capacity of the agency, the US government also said the project would further support the NDLEA efforts to conduct intelligence-led investigations through diverse resources as well as legal books and an e-library for prosecution and other legal needs of the agency.
The spokesperson further boasted that “Through all this, the NDLEA will be better equipped to prosecute cases with reliable evidence, using improved collection, handling, and custodial procedures. We appreciate our strong and continued working relationship and believe this project will be an important step in advancing our shared goal of a united, peaceful, and stable Nigeria.”