Buba Marwa, chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement
Agency (NDLEA), says he recently underwent a surgical operation.
Marwa said this on Thursday while addressing journalists
after a meeting with some French stakeholders on efforts to fight drug
trafficking.
The meeting held at the NDLEA headquarters in Abuja.
When asked after the meeting if he was hospitalised in
London for a surgery as rumoured, the NDLEA chairman said he underwent an
operation for “long-standing lower back pain” arising from sporting activities
during his years in the military.
“Aside from being an
avid polo player, I was an active member of the Nigerian Army athletics team in
the 1970s when I participated in the long jump and triple jump events and
hockey as well,” he was quoted as saying in a statement by Femi Babafemi, NDLEA
spokesman.
While dismissing other insinuations on his absence from
office, Marwa said he has since returned to his desk to continue his mission of
curbing drug trafficking in the country.
“As we speak, the assignment is on course and that’s the
essence of the meeting with officials of Smiths Detection today,” he added.
Meanwhile, in his remarks at the meeting, Gabriel Pequignot,
executive director for Africa, Smiths Detection, said the roundtable was to
discuss areas to support the work of the NDLEA.
Smiths Detection is a global firm which provides solutions
on detecting threats at airports, ports and borders.
“You are a great partner and we are here to discuss what we
can do to support what you are doing,” Pequignot said.
In response, Marwa said support from Smiths Detection “is a
very important component of our work”, adding that the NDLEA needs the
equipment to “aid our task of drug supply reduction”.
“NDLEA will continue
in its stride towards the attainment of its ultimate goal of making Nigeria
drug-free and will continue to respond strongly and appropriately to all issues
of drug abuse and trafficking,” he added.
“While pursuing our drug supply reduction goals, we have
intensified the War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaign across the states of the
federation in pursuit of our drug demand reduction goal.”
Other representatives of Smiths Detection at the meeting
included Loic Le Bret, Hani Jaffar, Max Zanoul, and Joseph Marc Khoury.
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com