FIGHTING DRUG WAR FROM THE CLASSROOM

Lagos

A new initiative to combat drug trafficking in the West African sub-region
was unveiled last week when the agreement for the upgrading of the NDLEA
Training Academy, Jos into a regional training centre, was signed between
the agency and UNODC. Godwin Haruna was there.

That the drug war has assumed a global phenomenon is no longer news. As the
battle to contain the trafficking and the consumption of the banned
substances continues, a new dimension to the efforts was unfolded last week
by the two principal bodies leading the fight in Nigeria. Essentially, it
was a move aimed at firming up the personnel used as instruments to curtail
the activities of those engaged in the illicit trade.

The conference centre of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
(UNODC) provided the venue for the event. The signing of the agreement
between the Chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency
(NDLEA), Alhaji Bello Lafiaji, representing the Federal Government and the
Country Representative of UNODC, Mr. Paul Salay, for the upgrading of the
NDLEA Training Academy to a Regional Training Centre could not have come at
a better time.

Both the Chairman of the NDLEA and the Country Representative of UNODC,
were upbeat at the event because it was a dream come true for the top most
collaborators in the fight against illicit drug trafficking around the
sub-region. The idea to upgrade the NDLEA Training Centre, Jos to a
regional training centre was conceived by the two men about two years ago
and they nurtured it to fruition climaxed by the event of that day.

In his speech, Lafiaji said the ceremony was the final step of a journey
that started immediately he assumed office in October 2000. According to
the NDLEA chief helmsman it was a journey intended to take the agency to
the promised land of professional excellence and bring about international
cooperation in the fight against drugs.

"The fight against drugs requires good intelligence, excellent professional
practice and close collaboration with other nations and stakeholders", he
stated.

Lafiaji stated that both the process of upgrading the NDLEA Academy into a
Regional Training Centre and the training that will be eventually delivered
would lead to the actualisation of these key elements. While emphasising on
the imperative of training, the NDLEA boss declared: "A workforce is as
good as the training it gets. This signing agreement is a stepping-stone to
getting the correct and current training at international standards that
will greatly enhance the performance of drug law enforcement officers in
Nigeria and the West African sub-region".

He said even before the signing of the agreement upgrading the academy, it
has received international accreditation and has been adjudged as the best
in Africa. Lafiaji expressed his determination to do his best to place
Nigeria on the forefront of the global counter-narcotics campaign. "What we
require is the continuous support of all Nigerians and the international
community and God's protection. To fight a drug war is a collective effort.
It is not fought by one individual country or agency, it is fought by all.
Together we will succeed by God's grace", the NDLEA boss stated.

Lafiaji explained the importance of training to the counter-narcotics
campaign encompassing the whole West African sub-region: "We embark on the
international training because we realise that lack of training brings a
lot of many things. But when they are trained together in the same complex
, when they go into their services and become leaders, there would be easy
communication, there would be easy sharing of intelligence. Training helps
tremendously in building the esprit de corps.

He gave the instance of himself who trained at the National War College
with some of the present crop of leaders in the armed forces. He stressed
that he would feel at ease to relate with them on issues that require
immediate attention than with people he had not interacted with previously.

Therefore, Lafiaji described the upgrading of the academy into a regional
centre as one that would be eventually beneficial to combating drug
trafficking in the sub-region. He added that rather than jeopardise his own
training programme, which has ensured that both top and low level staff are
periodically trained, it would enhance it. He remarked that the new face of
NDLEA and its accomplishments owed much to the training programme
introduced early in his stewardship at the agency. He expressed gratitude
to the Federal Government for its counterpart funding to the project.

Lafiaji declared that he envisaged a situation whereby future leadership of
the agency would be generated in-house. This, he said, is the reason behind
the various types of training introduced for all the cadres of staff to
facilitate their gradual movement to the top. He added that in line with
that objective, he has always promoted his staff when necessary even when
there was no immediate cash backing.

In his address, Malay said the signing ceremony was the successful
completion of a long process of negotiation between UNODC and the Federal
Government on ways to collaborate. While acknowledging the efforts of
Lafiaji in the conception of the project, Malay thanked President Obasanjo
for the Federal Government's $2 million contribution to it.

He said the signing ceremony signaled the end of a journey and the
beginning of another momentous one in the effort to ensure eventual
execution. He added that successful execution of the project would have
major implications for drug control implementation in Nigeria and the West
African sub-region. Before they signed the papers, the UNODC Country
Representative read out the mandate of the project, which include the
following:

Upgrading of training facilities for basic and advanced courses for
Nigeria's law enforcement personnel; delivery of international services,
among them are: drug and related training courses at advanced and
specialized levels to law enforcement officers from Nigeria and the ECOWAS
countries; and hosting national and regional inter-agency workshops at
technical and policy levels it also includes provision of resource centre
facilities on matters related to drug control and organised crime and on
modern teaching/training methodologies and approaches and service as a
centre for drug testing and analysis for training purposes.

Malay said the training modules would be specially tailored for the academy
based on UNODC's CD Rom on drug law enforcement which is recognised at the
global level as an important training tool.

He said the mandate was deliberately made to look regional because drug
control was a development issue and the drug menace could not be handled in
isolation by any individual country. "It is our expectation that by
enhancing the law enforcement capacity in the country and in the region, we
are also contributing to the overall development of the sub-region. This
project will further enhance networking between the law enforcement
agencies in ECOWAS through the dispersal of knowledge and networks of
friendship and collaboration built by the trainees passing through the
academy. It is important to stress that the development of Nigeria and
indeed Africa, will not come from overseas, it has to start here. It has to
start from us", the UNODC boss in Nigeria stated.

Malay stressed that on the basis of this philosophy, African countries
should not appear in front of other partners in the world as beggars
sitting and waiting for manna from heaven. "With dignity we have to work in
partnership with our friends from the West. Therefore, UNODC Nigeria has
introduced and explained to the Nigerian authorities at all levels the
importance of a new concept that our organisation has been promoting in
many other countries: The concept is the of cost-sharing under which the
recipient country shows commitment by making an initial contribution, while
UNODC raises the remaining funds for the project", he stated further. He
said the concept has been successfully applied in several countries
including Brazil, Mexico and Turkey, among others. According to him, it has
the advantage of encouraging international donors to provide funds for the
project in question and many other projects.

He said in the particular instance, the Nigerian government raised $2
million at the request of UNODC Country Office seconded by NDLEA. He added
that UNODC would, on its part, look for about $2.8 million in counterpart
funds to execute the project, whose duration he put at five and a half years.

The UNODC Country Representative disclosed that the utilisation of the
approach in Nigeria has opened the taps for UNODC financing of other
projects as it encouraged donors to put money into other projects proposed
by the Country Office for the benefit of the Nigerian people. He commended
the Nigerian authorities for accepting the cost-sharing concept thereby
becoming the first black African country to make a substantial contribution
to a UNODC project.

On this feat Malay gave a commitment: "I give the firm assurance that our
organisation will continue to support and assist Nigeria in the various
areas which come under UNODC mandates".

However, the country representative explained that the office does not
coerce governments into providing counterpart cost-sharing funds. It is
only done, he added, by a willing government in order to make proposals
attractive to donors to contribute to projects considered beneficial to the
people.

He used the opportunity of the ceremony to announce that a substantial
amount of progress had been made in the negotiation of the draft programme
document on' 'Partnership against Drugs and Crime Nigeria" (PAC). He gave
the assurance that the final output would be ready for implementation soon.
He reiterated the fact that the fight against drugs and crime could not be
left to government alone. "All of us have a crucial role to play. The PAC
project is a comprehensive programme of action designed to reduce crime,
drug abuse and high risk behaviour in Nigeria by mobilising the entire
society, private sector, government and community at large", he declared.