No less than 101 parcels of cocaine concealed in eight children duvets have been intercepted by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

According to a statement on Sunday by the spokesman of the anti-narcotics agency, Femi Babafemi, the illicit drug was brought into the country by a 52-year-old Brazilian returnee, Akudirinwa Uchenna.

He said Uchenna was arrested on Saturday at the D-Arrival Hall of the Lagos airport upon his return from Sao Paulo, Brazil via Doha aboard Qatar Airline flight, noting that the the 101 parcels of the class A drug with a gross weight of 13.2 kilogrammes were recovered from his only check-in bag.

During preliminary interrogation, Uchenna who claimed to be a carpenter confessed that he was to be paid N5 million for trafficking the drug after successfully delivering the consignment in Lagos.

In a related development, Babafemi said a big pellets of skunk concealed in detergent containers have been intercepted at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, disclosing that a 37-year-old South African returnee, Ezekwesili Afamefune brought in the consignment weighing 730 grammes aboard Ethiopian Airline flight from Johannesburg, South Africa via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

He also said in Edo state, a 24-year-old drug dealer Christian John was arrested by NDLEA operatives in Egbeta, Ovia North East local government area for selling assorted illicit drugs which include sachets of drugged Milo beverage, cannabis sativa, swinol and tramadol tablets, while in Zamfara state, one Chibuzor Uba, 30, was arrested last Friday with 1,955 ampules of pentazocine at Kaura Namoda area of the state.

Babafemi also disclosed that a cross-border drug trafficker, Stanley Chibuzor, 21, was last Friday arrested by officers of the Marine Unit of NDLEA stationed at Oron beach, Oron, Akwa Ibom state.

He said the suspect was nabbed with 11,190 tablets of Tramadol during the outward clearance of passengers traveling to Cameroon.

In Ondo state, a drug dealer who produces and sells skuchies, Oluwaseun Agboola, 25, he said was arrested on last Thursday at his Igoba, Second Gate, Akure residence where 73 bottles of skuchies weighing 77k kilogrammes stocked in his kitchen were recovered.

Babafemi explained that skuchies are usually a mixture of Tramadol, cannabis sativa, Codeine, black currant (popularly called Zobo) and water.

He also said in Lagos, an early morning raid in the notorious Akala, Mushin area of the state on Saturday led to the seizure of 746.25 kilogrammes of cannabis.

Meanwhile, Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Retd) while commending officers and men of the MMIA, AIIA, Edo, Zamfara, Akwa Ibom, Lagos and Ondo state Commands of the agency for the arrests and seizures, charged them and their colleagues across the country to remain focussed and abstain from acts capable of compromising or jeopardising the collective goal of ridding Nigeria of drug abuse and illicit drug trafficking.

The Federal Government has promulgated the National Strategy to Combat Wildlife and Forest Crime in the country.

Speaking in Abuja on Monday at the launch of the National Strategy to Combat Wildlife and Forest Crime in Nigeria (2022-2026), the Minister of Environment, Mohammed Abdullahi noted that wildlife crime syndicates are well established and organised, insisting that what is required is innovative, well-connected network across the African countries identifying legislative loopholes and weak security architecture to block seamless movement of wildlife crime and proceeds.

The Minister, while stating that traffickers have been found to stockpile pangolin scales in countries with less enforcement and weak legislation, said: “The development of Nigerian strategy on wildlife and forest crime is critical and timely.”

He added that: “Today Nigeria heed to the demand of the international community for a well-structured guidelines, legislation and punishment for wildlife traffickers and other related forest crime perpetrators.

“The goal is to free Nigeria of wildlife and forest crime, this requires enhancing institutional capacity, strengthening the legal frameworks, increase collaboration and remove crime enablers, raise awareness of wildlife crime and design alternative means of livelihood for dwellers of local communities.”

He assured that under his watch, the Ministry of Environment would provide all technical and necessary support towards the full implementation of the national strategy.

He however said the state governments are needed to adopt the strategy as part of their critical policy framework to ensure that the objective of the national strategy is achieved.

He said: “At the federal level, unparalleled attention will be focused on the implementation framework as enunciated in the Strategy. Similarly, attention will be focused in the Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis taking into account the highlighted political, economic, socio-cultural, technological, legal, environmental, and law enforcement indices with a view to ensuring that key players at the Federal, State and other levels do the needful and are guided and motivated appropriately to maximise the gains of the Strategy.”

He acknowledged that the landmark achievements would not have been possible without the cooperation and support of the numerous passionate partners including development partners.

The Minister of State for Environment, Sharon Ikeazor noted that Nigeria is blessed with cornucopia of natural resources which comprise of rich biodiversity ranging from aquatic to terrestrial fauna and flora.

She said: “The over 1,800 species of fauna and about 4,600 species of flora reported to be found in Nigeria are under serious multiple threats pushing them to the verge of being lost irredeemably. Wildlife and Forest crime which include the illegal taking, trading, harvesting, processing, killing, possessing and consumption of wild fauna and flora in all its habitat range – aquatic, terrestrial and arboreal has in recent years been a big challenge in the conservation of biodiversity within the nation’s boundaries.”

Also speaking at the Launch, the Country Representative of United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Oliver Stolpe said: the promulgation of this strategy comes at a critical time, stressing that over the past decade Nigeria has evolved into a primary transit hub for the trafficking of wildlife products, including ivory, pangolin scales and other protected species.

He said: “At the same time, Nigerian wildlife and forests are under severe threat, with immense amounts of rare tropical woods being illegally extracted and smuggled out of the country.”

He disclosed that: UNODC’s 2020 Wildlife Crime Report found that despite Nigeria being home to less than 0.1% of Africa’s elephant population, 23% of all elephant tusks seized globally between 2015 and 2019 had been smuggled through Nigerian ports.

“Similarly, we have seen Nigeria evolve into a major export hub for pangolin scales, with close to 60% of all seizures having either originated or been trafficked through Nigeria.”

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, and South Africa’s Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, popularly called HAWKS have agreed to collaborate in tackling the menace of drug trafficking between the two countries.

This was the highpoint of discussions at a virtual meeting on Monday between the Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Retd) and the National Head of South Africa’s DPCI, Lt. Gen. SG Lebeya along with members of their teams.

In his presentation, Gen. Marwa called for an operational Memorandum of Understanding, MoU that will allow both agencies share intelligence real time; engage in joint operations especially in the areas of controlled delivery; joint training and personnel exchange programmes among others.

“Drugs destroy our youths both in Nigeria and South Africa. These drugs are peddled by syndicates across our two countries, this is why we need to partner and collaborate to dismantle their evil web and stop their criminal trade”, Marwa said.

Lebeya, in his remarks, agreed on all the areas of collaboration identified by Marwa.

He said: “I’m in agreement with you on the areas you have mentioned. It’s important we collaborate on intelligence sharing real time. Exchange programme for our personnel is also another effective way of sharing knowledge.”

Other areas the meeting agreed would be worked on by the technical teams set up at the close of the discussions, include confiscation of proceeds of crime and prosecution of suspects among others.

Secretary to NDLEA, Mr. Shadrach Haruna will lead the agency’s technical team that will work with its DPCI’s counterpart, which is headed by Major Gen. Alfred Khana, Head, Serious and Organised Crime Division of HAWKS, to fine-tune details of the MoU that will be signed at a later date.

The European Union is to deliver an array of security hardware including 30 rigid-hull inflatable boats and forensic equipment to the Economic Community of West African States to tackle maritime crime and other security challenges in West Africa.

The issue of piracy has become a big issue on the Gulf of Guinea and reduce the volume of business from Europe and other continents to the West Africa region.

The boats and other security hardware are expected to be deployed on the West Africa waterways before the end of the year as the arrangement between the EU and ECOWAS are to be concluded at the ongoing high-level maritime security seminar in Abuja.

The seminar convened by ECOWAS, under the framework of the European Union-funded Support to West Africa Integrated Maritime Security (SWAIMS) project have in attendance representatives from all member countries of the regional body.

The equipment, estimated at €5 million, is expected to help security agencies in Nigeria and 11 other coastal ECOWAS states in combating crime and criminality.

The other beneficiaries include Benin, Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea-Conakry, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Senegal and Togo.

The Head of ECOWAS’ Regional Security Division, Col Abdourahmane Dieng, noted that maritime insecurity has long been one of the most persistent and intractable threats to maritime communities and economic prosperity in West Africa.

According to him, turning the tide against maritime insecurity is a collaborative effort that no single country or region can tackle alone.

He said, “For this reason, ECOWAS, in conjunction with the Economic Community of Central African States formulated the Yaoundé Code of Conduct as a foundation for broad-based regional maritime security along the entire Gulf of Guinea.

“Cognisant of this problem and its ramifications well beyond West Africa, ECOWAS launched its Integrated Maritime Strategy in 2014 with parameters for the development of the blue economy premised upon a coherent security framework.”

The EU Senior Coordinator for the Gulf of Guinea, Amb Nicolas Martinez, said the EU is a committed partner to the Gulf of Guinea region and would continue to provide extensive and targeted assistance to strengthen the critical features of the Yaoundé security architecture while cementing the long-standing relationship between ECOWAS and the EU.

The SWAIMS Team Leader, Dr Axel Klein, explained that the boats and forensic equipment will be supplied by Portugal’s Camões working closely with the Portuguese Navy, which would also provide related training and maintenance.

“In financial terms, the delivery of RHIBs and forensic equipment worth more than €5 million is the most significant component of the SWAIMS project,” he explained.

Besides Camões, other SWAIMS implementing partners are Institut de sécurité maritime interregional in Côte d’Ivoire, Regional Maritime University in Ghana, ECOWAS’ Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

The boats and equipment which are expected to significantly enhance the capacity of beneficiary countries to enforce the rule of law in their territorial waters and adjoining exclusive economic zones will be supplied by 2024.

The Acting Comptroller General of Immigration, Isah Idris has said that the deployment of ICT solutions in border security has become inevitable for the country and called for enhanced funding.

He said there is urgent need for some deliberate actions to improve the current security architecture across the nation’s Blue Borders.

He made the call during a working visit to the Service’s Blue Border Formations in Oron and Ibaka areas of Akwa Ibom State.

Idris maintained that the rising volume of migratory activities along the nation’s international waterways measuring over 853 kilometres requires that a closer attention is devoted to the sector for improved surveillance.

He noted that the waterways of Oron and Ibaka areas for instance, are accessible to countries such as Mali, Benin, Togo, Ghana and Cameroon among others and so concerted efforts should be made to equip all the agencies along that corridor for good security cover.

A statement on Saturday by the spokesman of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Amos Okpu said during the visit, the Acting Comptroller General paid courtesy visits to the traditional institutions in the Border communities where he solicited for their cooperation especially in information sharing to ensure effective border security.

At the palace of the paramount ruler of the Oron nation, His Royal Majesty Odiong Edet Akan, the Acting Comptroller General stated that: “We have come to realize that no security/military agency can achieve enduring peace and order anywhere in the country without the partnership of the traditional rulers and members of the local communities.”

He recalled that the traditional rulers had played great roles in the nation’s security arrangement during the pre and post-colonial eras and called for a re-visit of the roles of traditional rulers in the nation’s security architecture.

Speaking earlier the paramount ruler of the Oron nation, stated that members of his communities have been and will continue to be very supportive to the Immigration Service and called for sustenance of the existing relationship.

Idris later proceeded to Ibaka Control Post where he inspected the operational areas and a Jetty under construction.

He said that when completed the Jetty will impact positively on operational activities at the Control and urged the personnel to continue to demonstrate strong commitment to duty.

He thereafter paid a courtesy visit to the palace of the paramount rule of Mbo local government area, His Royal Majesty Ogwong Okon Asukwo Abang. The royal father assured of the support of his subjects to the Immigration Service and called on government to invest more on maritime security.

An interesting outcome of the visit to the Blue Border areas of Akwa Ibom State was the promise made by the Acting Comptroller General that the two Control Posts of Oron and Ibaka would be included in the eBorder project of the Service shortly.

He noted that when this is achieved the two locations would be connected to the Command and Control Centre at the Service Headquarters real time and online, for effective surveillance and monitoring of all movements and activities in the areas.

SOKOTO State Governor, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal has denied the alleged diversion of N189 billion by the State Government.

The governor, who in a press statement by his spokesman, Muhammad Bello, alleged that the media report is an orchestrated effort by his political traduces to taint his reputation.

The signed statement by Bello on Friday read: “Our attention has been drawn to reckless and provoking reports by some online new media about alleged diversion of N189 Billion by the Sokoto State Government. The reports cited a so-called EFCC interim report on Sokoto State. These media reports are false in all material particulars and should be completely disregarded.

“We alert the public that these media reports are products of orchestrated efforts by political hacks to taint the reputation of Governor Aminu Tambuwal, who is a frontline aspirant for 2023 PDP Presidential ticket. The Government of Sokoto State has established deserved reputation as the champion of budget transparency, fiscal responsibility, and open governance. We have subscribed to the Open Government Partnership (OGP).”

Bello added that: “It is noteworthy that in December 2020, the World Bank rated the Sokoto State as number one state in Nigeria in fiscal transparency as a recognition of Governor Tambuwal’s unflinching commitment to the implementation of the States Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) and for efforts to champion budgetary transparency in Nigeria. For this commitment, Sokoto State has received up to $34.1million as special grant from the World Bank.”

The spokesman said: “Governor Tambuwal in pursuit of fiscal responsibility and anticorruption in management of public finance in Sokoto State has created the Sokoto State Bureau of Public Procurement and Private Partnership and Fiscal Responsibility Commission to review and investigate all public expenditure. The agencies are independent agencies established by law. To further strengthen vertical and horizontal agencies of accountability in the state, Governor Tambuwal has signed law granting the Offices of Auditor General in the state and local government councils in Sokoto State operational independence to investigate all records of public expenditure in Sokoto State.”

Bello claimed that: “Nigerians know Governor Tambuwal as a champion of due process and fiscal probity, who as the Speaker of the House of Representative received a clean bill of health from all anticorruption agencies. He has been an inspiration for his commitment to prudent and honest management of public finance. He has continued to run an open government in Sokoto State. In line with his high standard of probity and open government, Governor Tambuwal invites any person who cares to look into the records of the state and to request the report of the Sokoto State Bureau of Public Procurement and Private Partnership on all public expenditures in Sokoto State.”

He said: “We assure Nigerians that we are ready with all relevant documents to challenge any report from the EFCC or any other anticorruption body on the public finances of Sokoto State. We are confident of Governor Tambuwal’s trail-blazing legacy of fiscal responsibility and open governance. We welcome the strictest scrutiny from any Nigerian or group interested in the affairs of Sokoto State.

“In the meantime, we urge the public to disregard these malicious attacks on Governor Tambuwal and desperate efforts to derail the Tambuwal mission to offer Nigeria an open and transformative governance.”

PRESS RELEASE:

For the African continent to move to become a driving force on the global stage, it is important to tap into the enormous resources of its diaspora , both within and outside the continent ,and the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission is at the forefront in this regard.

Mr Tunde Omoyeni, Regional Project Coordinator, International Organisation for Migration (IOM) stated this when he led the Namibian delegation on Study Tour of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, (NIDCOM) in Abuja.

Mr Omoyeni added that it will go along way if, engagement with Africans in the Diaspora can be handled at continental, regional and state levels thus impacting development at the grassroots.

He went further to point out the project such as, Southern Africa Diaspora Investment Community (SADIC) which is centred on improving socio-economic and other forms of development through engagement of Southern parts of Africa with its Diasporas.

Mr. David Ligonda, Deputy Director: Labour Market Information: Ministry of Labour, Industrial Relations and Employment Creation, Namibia, applauded Hon. (Dr.) Abike Dabiri-Erewa and the Nidcom team for being pathfinders in Africa’s quest to engage her Diaspora for meaningful turn around of Africa’s development with the establishment of Africa’s first agency for Diaspora affairs by Nigeria.

Mr. Ligonda agreed that migration is a fundamental human right and the Diaspora is a key element to development in any country, their welfare is equally critical adding that better strategies for managed migration be developed.

Hon. (Dr.) Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chairman/CEO, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) commended IOM and Namibian delegates for choosing NIDCOM for a Study Tour emphasising that Namibia becomes the second Country after Ehiopia to undertake a study tour of NIDCOM within two months interval.

The NiDCOM Boss emphasised that Africa needs to maximize greatly the full potentials of its Diaspora adding that to have a developed and innovative continent, the onus lies on all the African countries to converge together, to find ways to improve the status quo.

Dr Dabiri-Erewa stated further stressed the need for each country to recognise its respective Diaspora, through an effective and productive engagement with its Diaspora.

Using the Nigerian example, the Chairman of the Commission highlighted the ways Nigerians in the Diaspora have been engaged and managed, such as the Presidential Town Hall Meetings with the Diasporas, Webinar meetings, Adoption of a National Diaspora Policy, the Nigerian Diaspora Investment Summit, the proposed Nigerian Diaspora Investment trust fund ,appointment of State Diaspora Focal Point Officers (SDFPOs) and much more, which have actualised positive results.

The NiDCOM CEO said that as part of the move to focus more on development in Africa, the Commission plans to have a virtual programme that will engage with the Nigerian Diaspora resident in African Countries especially the upcoming African Diaspora Summit middle of the year to brainstorm with other Africans in the Diaspora to boost growth in the Continent.

Signed,
Gabriel Odu,
Media, Public Relations and Protocol Unit, NIDCOM.

A drug kingpin, who heads a syndicate operating at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos and six other members of his gang have been arrested by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

According to a statement on Wednesday by the spokesman of the agency, Femi Babafemi, the arrested suspects were on the run.

He disclosed that the Lagos airport drug syndicate was behind the smuggling of 1,584,000 tablets of Tramadol seized on Tuesday 15th March by NDLEA operatives in collaboration with Aviation Security (AVSEC) and Customs service personnel at the airport, noting that the seizure includes 17 cartons of 250mg Tramadol branded as “Tamra” weighing 669.70 kilogrammes and five cartons of 225mg Tramadol under the brand name “Royal” with a gross weight of 217.15 kilogrammes.

Babafemi recalled that the psychotropic substance, which was imported into the country from Pakistan was smuggled through the airport tarmac using one of the vehicles of the Skyway Aviation Handling Company (SAHCO) and was intercepted at the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) Personnel Yard with two two suspects: Ofijeh Mowa, a SAHCO driver and Nyam Alex who is a security guard with the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) were initially arrested in connection with the seizure.

He revealed that further investigations by NDLEA operatives however led to the arrest of five other persons involved in the crime including the ringleader, Yunana Fidelis who fled Lagos to Kaduna the moment their lid was blown open. Other members of the syndicate are Adesanwo Temitope; Owoseni Temidayo; Fasoranti Shola and Bamigbade Jonathan.

Babafemi said Yunana Fidelis, who is also a staff of NACHO, had escaped and fled to Kaduna after depositing N19.8 million cash with a BDC operator to be paid later into his bank account.

He said after tracking him for days in Kaduna, on Friday 25th Fidelis relocated to Abuja where he was eventually arrested by NDLEA operatives at 7pm last Sunday while he was trying to collect a million Naira cash from an undercover agent who posed as a BDC operator.

Babafemi said in addition to recovering the cash Fidelis deposited with the BDC operator in Lagos, the agency had also placed a post no debit order on his identified bank accounts.

The NDLEA Spokesman also disclosed that a professional methamphetamine (Mkpuru Mmiri) cook and a lawyer were arrested in Owerri, Imo state and Ado Ekiti, Ekiti state respectively.

According to him the professional methamphetamine (Mkpuru Mmiri) cook, Reuben Bekweri, 34, was arrested in Owerri while trying to distribute a kilogramme of the illicit drug he cooked and packaged in seven nylon sachets in the Irete Area of Imo state capital last Saturday.

He said in Ado Ekiti, narcotic officers on Monday also arrested a 42-year-old lawyer, Mr. Mayowa Oluwanisomo, in Zone 4, Embassy Island, Moferere area of the Ekiti state capital following credible intelligence that he deals in psychotropic substances.

Babafemi said a total of 11,570 tablets of Tramadol weighing 7.3 kilogrammes were recovered from him when his residence was searched. He admitted ownership of the drug exhibits, adding that he graduated from Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti and Abuja campus of the Nigerian Law School in 2016.

Meanwhile, the Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Retd) has commended the officers and men of MMIA, Imo and Ekiti state Commands for sustaining the offensive action against drug cartels in their respective areas of responsibility.