The United States government has announced a project that will strengthen the forensic and chemical analysis capacity of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) as well as its intelligence gathering and prosecution capabilities.
The latest support from the US Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) came on the heels of an award of N500m grant to fund selected projects in the agency by the Abdul Samad Rabiu Initiative (ASR Africa).
Spokesman of the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, on Monday in a statement, cited an official letter announcing the US project grant to the NDLEA.
He said the award followed requests by the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), during a series of meetings with top U.S. officials both in Abuja and in Washington DC.
The letter noted that the project would be implemented by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Nigeria.
Aside from the support for the forensic and chemical analysis capacity of the Agency, the US government also said the project would further support NDLEA efforts to conduct intelligence-led investigations through diverse resources as well as legal books and an e-library for prosecution and other legal needs of the NDLEA.