The government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has assured the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) of support and stronger partnership while commending the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the agency, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (rtd) for providing excellent leadership that has led to streaks of operational successes in the fight against substance abuse and illicit drug trafficking in Nigeria.
The assurance and commendation were conveyed when the UAE Ambassador to Nigeria, Salem Saeed Musabbeh Alshamsi paid Marwa a courtesy visit at the agency’s National Headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday, 11 November, 2025.
The Ambassador said: “I’m here to appreciate your hard work and the great leadership you have provided the NDLEA. We have been following your achievements very closely, and I must say you have done very well and still doing excellent job. We follow all the good work that you’ve been doing, especially all the drugs you’re seizing and blocking from coming to the UAE and we’re so proud of your achievements and that’s why we’re here to deepen our cooperation with your agency in the area of fighting drug trafficking. The UAE looks forward to working more closely with Nigeria on drug enforcement matters.”
While extending an invitation to Marwa to visit his counterpart in UAE and the Dubai Police leadership for further engagements, the envoy expressed the readiness of his government to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with NDLEA on areas of collaboration with the agency.
“We need to exchange information about drug dealers, and all of their activities. We are here to help and to support you, especially on this matter. It’s very important that we have a very great communication between the UAE and Nigeria especially now that the relationship between United Arab Emirates and Nigeria has become one of the best. If there is any other thing I could do to support the great work you’re doing here, please do not hesitate to ask me and I’ll be available and willing to do it in appreciation of your great leadership. Our mission is to be here for you, assist and support you”, the Ambassador stated.
In his response, Marwa expressed appreciation to the envoy for his kind words on his person and the work of NDLEA, while also commending the developmental strides in UAE. He praised the Ambassador’s years of dedicated service and the huge leap in trade and movement between Nigeria and UAE in the last two years, which he said is in line with the renewed hope agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“I’d like to acknowledge the strong diplomatic relations between our two countries that have continued to grow stronger every year. And Your Excellency has just told us now the latest in billions of dollars in non-oil trade and this is something that we welcome very much in Nigeria because the President’s Renewed Hope Agenda wants to achieve not just peace and stability, but prosperity for all Nigerians. The drug scourge is universal, both the trafficking of it and the abuse of it and there’s a need for collaboration between nations to achieve solutions on this. And in Nigeria, the NDLEA is the agency that is tasked with the control of illicit drugs in the country.”
Marwa noted that in the last four years, the agency had intercepted a total of 302.202 kilograms of assorted illicit substances going to the UAE either at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport Lagos or some courier companies in Lagos.
As the largest anti-narcotics agency in Africa, Marwa said NDLEA partners all leading drug law enforcement agencies across the world. “We welcome the collaboration between NDLEA and our counterparts in UAE, we’re also willing to honour the invitation to visit UAE for collaborative discussions and sign the MoU”, he assured the envoy.
