Chairman and chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) has charged all the newly promoted officers and men of the anti-narcotic agency to go all out and crush drug cartels across Nigeria.

He gave the charge during a ceremony to decorate newly promoted Deputy Commanders General of Narcotics, DCGNs and Assistant Commanders General of Narcotics, ACGNs. Gen. Marwa had on Thursday 17th June, 2021 approved the immediate promotion of 3,506 officers and men to their next ranks, thus breaking the jinx of long years of stagnation in the Agency.

This followed a report by the harmonisation committee he instituted soon after assuming leadership of the agency in January to address the issues of low morale and stagnation in the career path of personnel.

After due consideration of the recommendations by the committee, the NDLEA Chief Executive approved the immediate promotion of 2,910 officers between the rank of Narcotic Assistant I and Superintendent of Narcotics while 596 others between Chief Superintendent of Narcotics and Assistant Commander General of Narcotics were recommended to the Board of the Agency for elevation to their next ranks, a recommendation that was approved by the Board on Wednesday 16th June, 2021.

Addressing the newly promoted DCGNs and ACGNs during their decoration with their new ranks on Thursday in Abuja, Gen. Marwa said the exercise is part of efforts to ensure that the nation’s anti-drug war succeeds. “Any clog in our wheels, we’ll destroy and must be crushed. This war must be pursued relentlessly, the entire country mobilised and we must succeed”, he declared while charging the topmost officers to go all out and crush the drug scourge in every part of the country.

He attributed the success so far recorded by the Agency to the support of President Muhammadu Buhari who “graciously approved payment of liabilities and entitlements owed to staff for years and also burial expenses due to families of deceased officers since 2015.” He assured officers and men of the Agency that their welfare and care will continue to remain uppermost under his leadership.

Chairman of the Harmonisation Committee and Special Adviser to the Chairman, Col. Yakubu Bako (Retd); Director of Administration and Establishment, Sani Ibrahim Sani as well as the Director, Planning, Research and Statistics, Victoria Egbase who spoke at the ceremony commended Gen. Marwa for restoring the dignity and morale of the workforce through his purposeful and result oriented leadership of the agency.

A breakdown of the list of promoted officers and men shows eight Assistant Commanders General of Narcotics (ACGN) were elevated to the rank of Deputy Commander General of Narcotics (DCGN); 20 Commanders of Narcotics (CN) to Assistant Commander General of Narcotics; 54 Deputy Commanders of Narcotics to Commander of Narcotics; 14 Assistant Commanders of Narcotics to Commander of Narcotics; 150 Assistant Commanders of Narcotics to Commander of Narcotics; and 350 Chief Superintendents of Narcotics to Assistant Commander of Narcotics.

A total of 630 Superintendents of Narcotics were also moved to the next rank as Chief Superintendent of Narcotics; Deputy Superintendent of Narcotics to Superintendent of Narcotics- 41; Assistant Superintendent of Narcotics I to Superintendent of Narcotics -481; Assistant Superintendent of Narcotics I to Deputy Superintendent of Narcotics -157; Assistant Superintendent of Narcotics II to Assistant Superintendent of Narcotics I -12; Assistant Superintendent of Narcotics II to Deputy Superintendent of Narcotics -187; Chief Narcotic Agent to Assistant Superintendent of Narcotics I -119; Chief Narcotic Agent to Assistant Superintendent of Narcotics II -47; Senior Narcotic Agent to Chief Narcotic Agent – 1,006; Narcotic Agent to Chief Narcotic Agent – 4; Narcotic Agent to Senior Narcotic Agent -68; Narcotic Assistant I to Senior Narcotic Assistant -1 and Narcotic Assistant I to Narcotic Agent -78.