The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has moved its headquarters to a new building in Abuja’s Jahi neighborhood, which is currently under construction.
The director of media and advocacy at NDLEA Headquarters in Abuja, Femi Babafemi, made this known in a statement on Wednesday.
Babafemi said the facility, which is the first phase of the national headquarters project expected to be completed with 2025 budgetary provisions, was officially unveiled during an interdenominational service within the complex on Wednesday, November 26th, 2024.
Speaking during the brief ceremony, Brig Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the Agency, said the development represents a phase in the transformation and recalibration of NDLEA into a modern and result-oriented anti-narcotic agency, a process that began in January 2021.
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“I’m glad we have finally moved in to occupy this facility after initial budgetary constraints. Even though this is the first phase of the new headquarters project, we are hopeful that we will be able to complete the process with next year’s budget.
“This is not 100% completed, but it is sufficiently functional for us to move in. I was determined to move in before the end of 2024 because, with the expansion of the agency, the headquarters also expanded, and in our old location we could not accommodate everyone. I have had to post scores of officers due to a lack of space for them to work.
“It was for this reason that the management took a unanimous decision that since it was not 100% ready and we needed it, we should make it a low-key inauguration ceremony. This will enable us to relocate some of our directorates still operating outside Abuja into one facility to consolidate our operations for efficiency, effectiveness, and seamless coordination,” Marwa stated.
While stating that the old head office in the Gimbiya, Garki area of the FCT will continue to serve as the headquarters annex, the NDLEA boss expressed gratitude to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his continued support and encouragement to the agency to be in a position to achieve its mandate of curbing substance abuse and illicit drug trafficking in the country.
“The support we are getting from our international partners and local stakeholders, especially President Bola Tinubu, the National Assembly, the judiciary, and the citizenry, is not just to appreciate our efforts but to encourage us to do more, and I believe this new work environment will motivate you to surpass past feats,” Marwa told a crowd of excited management staff, officers, and men of the agency at the ceremony.
He commended his predecessor for starting the process of getting a befitting headquarters for the agency.
In his welcome remark, Secretary to the Agency, Shadrach Haruna, commended Marwa for providing inspiring leadership that has in three years transformed NDLEA into the same class as its counterparts across the world in terms of professionalism, capability, and capacity.
“The commissioning of our headquarters today is part of the incremental but well-laid agenda for the repositioning of the agency by the chairman. We have witnessed some monumental achievements since 2021, including increasing the staff strength of the agency from 5,000 to 15,000. Promotion of officers, opening up of vacancies, payment of accumulated allowances to staff and widows of our fallen officers, the recent amendment of the Agency’s enabling law by the National Assembly, and many more,” he said.
Christian and Islamic prayers were offered for President Tinubu and Nigeria, while a commemorative plaque was unveiled to mark the event.
