Nigeria and Egypt are set to strengthen their partnership against illicit drug trafficking and substance abuse through a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will institutionalized intelligence sharing, joint operations and capacity building between the two countries’ anti-narcotics agencies.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (retd), disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja while receiving the Egyptian Ambassador to Nigeria, Mohammed Fouad, during a courtesy visit.
Marwa said the proposed agreement would deepen bilateral cooperation and provide a structured framework for tackling the increasingly sophisticated operations of international drug cartels targeting Africa.
He described illicit drug trafficking as a transnational threat that requires coordinated international action, stressing that no country is immune to the growing menace.
“The drug problem is a global challenge. Nowhere is untouched. The drug menace is everywhere in the world,” Marwa said.
He noted that the NDLEA already maintains operational partnerships with several international agencies, including the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA), the UK Border Force, French and German law enforcement agencies, as well as India’s Narcotics Control Bureau.
According to him, the agency is looking forward to extending such collaboration to Egypt through a formal bilateral agreement.
“We are very excited that we’re going to collaborate with Egypt through an MoU. Drug cartels are increasingly looking for alternative routes in Africa because of sustained pressure elsewhere, and we must remain united to push them out of the continent,” he said.
Marwa also highlighted recent operational successes by the NDLEA, revealing that the agency dismantled a clandestine methamphetamine laboratory valued at about 362 million dollars, allegedly operated by Mexican nationals in a remote forest in Nigeria. He added that another methamphetamine laboratory linked to Mexican drug traffickers had also been destroyed in a separate operation.
He said the operations underscore Nigeria’s commitment to preventing the country from becoming a manufacturing hub for synthetic drugs.
Marwa expressed confidence that the proposed MoU would strengthen institutional cooperation and boost joint efforts to combat narcotics trafficking.
Earlier, Ambassador Fouad said Nigeria and Egypt, as two of Africa’s leading nations, have a shared responsibility to confront the continent’s growing drug trafficking challenge.
He explained that his visit was aimed at identifying practical areas of collaboration and understanding the NDLEA’s operational priorities.
“Egypt and Nigeria, being two prominent African countries, should be able to address the challenge of combating narcotics from a continental perspective because it is affecting societies across Africa,” the ambassador said.
He added that stronger bilateral cooperation would help disrupt criminal networks involved in the production, trafficking and distribution of illicit drugs.
The proposed agreement comes as the NDLEA intensifies its anti-drug campaign under Marwa’s leadership, recording major drug seizures, arrests and the destruction of clandestine drug laboratories across Nigeria.
Security experts say stronger intelligence sharing and coordinated cross-border operations remain critical to dismantling organised drug trafficking syndicates that continue to adapt to intensified global enforcement efforts.
