The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has signalled readiness to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with Egyptian counterparts covering intelligence sharing, joint operations and training, as part of efforts to curb substance abuse and illicit drug trafficking affecting both countries.
NDLEA Chairman Mohamed Buba Marwa expressed the agency’s readiness to partner with Egypt during a courtesy visit from Egyptian Ambassador Mohammed Fouad in Abuja, saying the global scale of the drug problem has made the kind of collaboration Nigeria already maintains with the US Drug Enforcement Administration, the UK’s National Crime Agency and Border Force, French Police, German Criminal Police and India’s Narcotics Control Bureau essential with Egypt too. The drug problem is a global challenge, nowhere is untouched, Marwa said, we are, therefore, very excited that we’re going to collaborate with Egypt through an MoU, noting recent pressure from elsewhere has pushed drug cartels to look for alternative footholds in Africa, making continental unity essential to pushing them out.
Marwa cited recent NDLEA successes as evidence of the stakes involved, including taking down a $362 million methamphetamine lab that Mexican operators were running in a deep Nigerian jungle roughly two months earlier, and dismantling a second meth lab run by other Mexicans in a different state more recently. I’m quite happy that Nigeria and Egypt have been working on an MoU to further our cooperation in this very important area, he said, adding that signing it would pave the way for more institutional cooperation between the two countries’ competent agencies. Ambassador Fouad said enhancing bilateral cooperation matters given both countries’ prominence on the continent, arguing Egypt and Nigeria should address the challenge of combating narcotics from a continental perspective given its impact on societies across Africa, describing his visit as an opportunity to discuss joint action against illicit drug trafficking and learn more about NDLEA’s priorities and how bilateral cooperation with Egypt could support its work.
