FG to employ 10,000 drug law enforcement officers in 2017 – Malam

Minister of Justice and the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), has said the federal government has approved the recruitment of 5000 staff in the National Drug Law and Enforcement Agency, (NDLEA), in addition to 10,000 in 2017. Malami, who spoke at the ECOWAS ministers meeting, said there are plans by the federal government to improve the capacity of the agency in relation to fighting crimes in the region. Malami, who urged member countries’ ministers to adopt the new ECOWAS Regional Drug Action Plan, for the year 2016-2020, said it provides a roadmap and working document for the ECOWAS drug control team.
Commending Nigeria’s effort to tackle drug trafficking at the national level, the ECOWAS director in charge of Drug Control, Sintiki Ugbe, said Nigerian government has shown political commitment by approving the recruitment of workers to widen the NDLEA capacity and further develop a national drug control master plan. “We see and applaud that kind of political commitment in the region. We also want to see the translation of political commitment into real actions,” Ugbe said.