News
NDLEA Trains 6 Other West African countries on Techniques for Dismantling Clandestine Drug Laboratories
NDLEA Trains 6 Other West African countries on Techniques for Dismantling Clandestine Drug Laboratories
By: James Bwala
In order to combat the threat of drug trafficking and abuse in West Africa, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has conducted training for six countries in the sub-region on how to dismantle clandestine laboratories.
According to a statement on Thursday by the spokesman of the anti-narcotics agency, Femi Babafemi, the training took place in Abidjan, Côte D’Ivoire, from March 27 to 29, with six West African countries of Republic of Benin, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia, The Gambia, Cote D’Ivoire plus those from Nigeria participating, in the project which was organised by ECOWAS.
The project known as “Organised Crime: West African Response to Trafficking” (OCWART), co-funded by the European Union (EU) and German Federal Foreign Office and executed primarily by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, UNODC.
Babafemi said as the lead agency at the workshop, NDLEA drew from its experiential knowledge acquired from the dismantling of 21 clandestine laboratories found in Nigeria since 2011 to teach other West African countries the practical know-how of handling illicit laboratories.
He disclosed that a total of eight topical lectures, practicals and Q&A sessions were delivered in two days by a team of NDLEA facilitators that include Joseph Sunday (Director, Prosecutions and Legal Services); Margaret Ogundipe (Director, Forensic and Chemical Monitoring); Adebowale Rahman (Digital Intelligence specialist); Anebi Ajilima (Forensic and crime lab expert) and Felix Tagbo (Operation specialist).
He said the first two days of the workshop dwelt on various perspectives on the subject matter, including the anatomy of a clandestine laboratory, basic clandestine lab investigation techniques, intelligence gathering, operations safety and guidelines for dismantling clandestine laboratories, clean-up and decontamination of illicit labs and sites, basics of controlled delivery and prosecuting cases of clandestine laboratories.
He further revealed that the workshop was wrapped up on the third day with a practical exercise on the dismantling of a mock clandestine laboratory at the Abidjan Police Academy, which the Nigerian contingent set up and the participants, divided into teams, took turns to dismantle and decontaminate.
He said the workshop’s seven participating countries sent in representatives from relevant organisations, including Ghana’s Narcotics Control Commission; Sierra Leone’ Serious Organised Crime and Counter Terrorism Coordination Directorate; Drug Law Enforcement Agency of the Gambia (DLEAG); Transnational Crime Unit of Liberia and the INTERPOL.
The Republic of Benin was represented by the Organised Crime Fighting Unit (CELCO), Customs and Narcotics Office (OCERTID), while the host, Côte D’Ivoire, had representatives from Narcotics Squad from Judicial Police (DPSD), Customs, National Gendarmerie, Transnational Crime Unit (TCU), Forensic Police Laboratory and Joint Airport Interdiction Task Force (JAITF).
Babafemi said at the opening ceremony, UNODC Country Representative and its Senior Adviser, Law Enforcement, West and East Africa, Ishaqu Toure, described the latitude of the workshop thus: “It is both enforcement and judicial capacity building. The project offers technical and equipment support, as well as facilitates discussion of joint operations among member countries.”
Toure, was quoted to have said: “We need regional cooperation to disrupt the transnational criminal organisations’ network,” noting that the South-South cooperation that exists among ECOWAS member states since 2014 has helped to disrupt transnational criminal activities over the years.
Secretary General of the Inter-ministerial Committee for the Fight against Drugs, who represented the Minister of Interior and Security for Côte d’Ivoire (General Vagondo Diomande), Mr Kouma Yao Ronsard, said: “This workshop will ensure that law enforcement agencies across the region are equipped with the modern knowledge and equipment to fight transnational organised crime.”
He also underscored the need for cooperation among law enforcement agencies in West Africa. noting that: “We need cooperation, especially bilateral cooperation. The new law in Cote D’Ivoire gave it the power to cooperate with states in the fight against drug and human trafficking. We need cooperation to break this chain.
“Cote D’Ivoire has cooperation with Nigeria. No one country can say, “there is no drug in my country,” the reality is, we haven’t seen them and or don’t know yet of the techniques of the criminals.”
UNODC Regional Representative for West and Central Africa, Dr. Amado de Andrés,, in his speech before presenting certificates to the participants, said: “All countries in the West Africa region need to cooperate. And we need Nigeria more in the participation of conventions against organised crime.”
He said the purpose of bringing all the countries together is to break the language barrier.
He told the participants that: “In the next five years, we will have to work together, so that your combined expertise can be used to train other regions of the world. We are trying to foster South-South cooperation in a way to make it effective as to strengthen security and entrench stability in the region.”
NDLEA Trains 6 Other West African countries on Techniques for Dismantling Clandestine Drug Laboratories
News
Governor Buni commended for selecting Maigari for appointment as Commissioner of the Federal Character Commission
Governor Buni commended for selecting Maigari for appointment as Commissioner of the Federal Character Commission
By: Yahaya Wakili
Yobe state Governor, Hon. Mai Mala Buni CON, and Chiroman Gujba have been commended for doing the best thing for selecting Hon. Jibrin Maigari, Commissioner, Federal Character Commission, representing Yobe state.
The commendation was made by the executive chairman of the Nangere local government council, Hon. Samaila Musa FICN, while receiving the commissioner of the federal character commission, Hon. Jibrin Maigari, who was on a sensitization visit in his office.
He said Hon. Maigari is performing excellently because since this commission was created, we have never gotten the federal commissioner who has brought something tangible to Yobe, because in the past five years we have seen the result when he assumed office.
Musa maintained that, “His Excellency, Governor Mai Mala Buni CON, has done the right thing by appointing the right person in the right place, because I was a director in the federal service. I know how difficult it is to secure employment for the teeming youths.
He advised that His Excellency, Hon. Mai Mala Buni, should continue to put the right people in that place so that the right people will be employed. Adding that, before I came here, I had something in mind that we have youths who have completed their secondary education, and they could not secure admission into tertiary institutions.
According to the chairman, these youths performed; they had gotten the requirements to be admitted, but because of the family background of the family, they could not, and they feel that the local government should bring a package whereby the youth will compile their CVs and go to university, polytechnic, or college of education to secure admission for them.
“We have graduates who are diploma holders, NCE, HND, and degree holders. There is nothing doing; I had to believe that we are going to adopt entrepreneurial activity within Nangere, training them three months after training them. We come up with different varieties of skills for them to engage in different businesses and activities,” he said.
“So by doing that, we are able to train 500 youths, and at the end of the day, every youth will be able to engage four people, so plus him, there are five. So you multiply five times five hundred, and you have 2,500 employed, and we called it a blue-collar job because what a cola job these days is too easy. So we have to develop a plan or strategies whereby the youth must survive.
The chairman said we have a work plan already, and very soon we are going to develop it, because we have adopted that in the 2025 budget, and very soon, by the second quarter, we are going to embark on it. He noted that I have already discussed with the consultancy services of Yobe State University in that regard.
Governor Buni commended for selecting Maigari for appointment as Commissioner of the Federal Character Commission
World Medical Relief donates healthcare equipment to Yobe State
By: Yahaya Wakili
The Yobe State Executive Council has noted the delivery of healthcare equipment to the state donated by World Medical Relief in the United States. These equipment include hospital beds, infusion pumps, patient monitors, surgical instruments, and tools, amongst others.
Governor Mai Mala Buni CON disclosed this yesterday while chairing the first State Executive Council meeting held at the Government House in Damaturu.
The governor spoke about his administration’s human capital development effort, adding that in 2024, many people across the state were reached with various forms of support, particularly the students sent to India for undergraduate studies.
Briefing the newsmen on the outcome of the Exco meeting, The state Commissioner of Home Affairs, Information, and Culture, Alhaji Abdullahi Bego, said the governor reflected on the preceding year, noting it as one in which the state government was able to execute many projects and programs that have positive impacts on the lives of the people of the state.
He said the government has also built four modern sesame seed processing factories in Machina, Nguru, Potiskum, and Damaturu, and all of them have been completed 100% and will be commissioned soon.
In addition, all local government areas cut off by last year’s rains, especially in the northern part of the state, have been repaired and vehicular traffic restored, and the state government is also currently constructing a road from Potiskum to Ngojin and from Fadawa to Daya in the Fika local government area.
World Medical Relief donates healthcare equipment to Yobe State
Military
NAF AIRSTRIKES NEUTRALIZE SCORES OF BANDITS HIBERNATING AT ALAWA FOREST IN SHIRORO LGA OF NIGER STATE
NAF AIRSTRIKES NEUTRALIZE SCORES OF BANDITS HIBERNATING AT ALAWA FOREST IN SHIRORO LGA OF NIGER STATE
By: Olusola F Akinboyewa
The Air Component of Operation FANSAN YAMMA (AC OPFY) has recorded another significant achievement in its counter-terrorism campaign, neutralising scores of bandits and dismantling their logistics base at Alawa Forest in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State. This operation, conducted on 21 January 2025, was based on credible intelligence and follow-up confirmatory aerial surveillance efforts which indicated an influx of armed terrorists into the forest. These criminals were linked to widespread violence, including two Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attacks on 19 December 2024 in Bassa, Shiroro LGA, which claimed several innocent lives.
In response, the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) launched a three-day sustained air operation, code-named KONAN DAJI, to degrade the terrorists’ capabilities and render the forest unhabitable for them. To this end, AC OPFY dispatched a formation of fighter aircraft to execute air interdiction missions in the area. Upon arrival, the jets swiftly engaged the identified targets with precision strikes, neutralising numerous armed fighters and destroying their logistics base, as confirmed by multiple secondary explosions.
The NAF, in close coordination with ground forces, remains resolute in its commitment to maintaining operational dominance across the region. Sustained efforts are underway to eliminate all criminal elements from Alawa Forest and surrounding areas, ensuring lasting peace and security for communities in Niger State and beyond.
NAF AIRSTRIKES NEUTRALIZE SCORES OF BANDITS HIBERNATING AT ALAWA FOREST IN SHIRORO LGA OF NIGER STATE
Governor Buni commended for selecting Maigari for appointment as Commissioner of the Federal Character Commission
World Medical Relief donates healthcare equipment to Yobe State
NAF AIRSTRIKES NEUTRALIZE SCORES OF BANDITS HIBERNATING AT ALAWA FOREST IN SHIRORO LGA OF NIGER STATE
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