By Blessing Bature-Akpakpan,
The Northern elders under the auspices of Coalition of Northern Elders for Peace and Development has hailed the appointment of the former Military Administrator of Lagos State, retired Brig. Gen. Mohammed Buba Marwa as Chairman of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, by the President Buhari, describing it as a right step in the right direction.
In the statement signed by their National Coordinator, Engr. Zana Goni, the Coalition said the appointment is in right direction and will curb menace of drugs intake by youths in the region, noting that drug abuse was one of the major promoters of insecurity in the North and called on the new NDLEA boss to be more decisive with drugs peddlers, with a view to ending the menace not only in the region but also other parts of the country.
“We express our profound gratitude to the president for the appointment of our son, retired Brig. Gen. Mohammed Buba Marwa as the Chairman of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and we must confess that it is a right step in the right direction because drug abuse is one of the major banes of security in the North. We know his pedigree and we are sure he would deliver on his mandate,” the group said.
Dwelling more on the need for urgent restructuring of security architecture, the coalition said: “We kindly appeal to Mr President to equally and urgently restructure the entire security architecture so as to give the war against insurgence a big boost.”
“Until we change the security architecture, nothing meaningful will be achieved in the war against insecurity,” it claimed.
Northern elders have alleged that the region is under siege by Boko Haram, bandits, and kidnappers, asking President Muhammadu Buhari to device new approach in restoring peace in the troubled area as according to them, the situation has grounded educational, economic and sociopolitical activities.
It said the ugly situation was being underreported by the media, reiterated their call on President Buhari to restructure the nation’s security architecture, adding that it would take the region over 100 years to recover from destruction, killings and trauma associated with the insecurity in the region if the development was not brought under total control now.
