The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested about 30 drug peddlers between May and June at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.
This is as the command has won the award for the Most Outstanding Command in Nigeria for four consecutive months – January to April 2021.
Those arrested were at the international wing terminal and the cargo areas of the airport.
Ahmadu Garba, the assistant commander-general of Narcotics (ACGN) stated this to aviation journalists on Thursday at the agency’s command at the Lagos Airport.
According to Garba, the arrests were made through intelligence gathering of its officers, adding that the coming onboard of Brig. General Buba Marwa, the chairman of NDLEA had further boosted the morale of officers.
Besides, he explained that the command was awarded the Most Outstanding Command by NDLEA for its due diligence and the excellent performance of its officers.
Garba stated that awards for the command and the recognition of individual officers for excellent performance had further increased the morale of officers as they now compete to make arrests.
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He said: “We won the award for the Most Outstanding Command in Nigeria for the months of January to April. The award is given every two months and we are still hopeful that we will win the next one for the months of May and June.
“There are so many things used by the NDLEA and I am not part of the selection team. Probably they look at the number of arrests by a command, nature of some of the cases. It is on record that officers were offered the sum of $24,500 by some of the barons within the period, but they rejected it.
“There was another case they wanted to compromise the officers. Also, a number of our cases are going for prosecution. There is a team that is in charge of this award. For the months of May and June, we have made more than 30 arrests at the airport and the cargo areas alone.
“The good thing is that the awards have gingered the officers in the command to work more. Everyone is now struggling to make arrests so that they can gain recognition and award. For each award, the officer gets a promotion and other incentives.”
He lauded Marwa for coming up with the initiative, stressing that officers are now happier than in the past.
According to him, some of the officers who had been stagnated in the past years have now been appropriately promoted, while the chairman is also working on increasing the salaries of personnel and provision of intervention funds for the agency.
