BY TAIBAT UMMI YAKUBU
Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates have stepped up their fight against international drug trafficking, with their anti-narcotics agencies signing a new agreement aimed at improving intelligence-sharing and coordinating operations against trafficking networks operating along the Nigeria-UAE route.
The Memorandum of Understanding between the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and the UAE’s National Drug Enforcement Authority (NDEA) was signed on Saturday in Abu Dhabi on the sidelines of the ongoing 15th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice.
The agreement comes as the NDLEA disclosed that its officers had intercepted 354.7 kilogrammes of illicit drugs concealed in consignments heading to the UAE between 2021 and 2026.
The seizures, according to the agency, resulted in the arrest and prosecution of 47 suspects. The drugs recovered included cocaine, cannabis, tramadol, Rohypnol, ecstasy and khat.
With Nigeria and the UAE maintaining strong commercial, business and travel links, authorities have increasingly been concerned about criminal networks exploiting legitimate connections between the two countries to move narcotics across borders.
The new agreement is designed to make it harder for such networks to operate by giving the two agencies a more structured platform for sharing intelligence, exchanging operational information and providing technical assistance.
NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (retd.), who signed the agreement on behalf of Nigeria, described it as a significant development in the relationship between the two agencies.
Marwa said the pact was the product of years of engagement between the NDLEA and NDEA and would strengthen cooperation that had already existed between them.
He said the quantity of drugs intercepted along the UAE route demonstrated the need for closer collaboration, particularly in the areas of intelligence gathering, tracking of suspects and coordinated enforcement.
The NDLEA chairman said the new framework would also build on existing arrangements between both countries, including the exchange of liaison personnel, while creating room for deeper operational cooperation.
One of the notable measures contained in the new partnership is the planned provision of a comprehensive list of prohibited items by UAE authorities to Nigerian travellers.
According to Marwa, the initiative is intended to help Nigerians travelling to the UAE understand the country's restrictions and avoid unknowingly carrying substances or items that are prohibited under UAE law.
The NDLEA boss also used the occasion to give an account of the agency’s wider anti-drug campaign in Nigeria, revealing that more than 91,000 suspects had been arrested between January 2021 and July 2026.
Among those arrested, he said, were 243 suspected drug kingpins, while the agency seized more than 15.5 million kilogrammes of illicit drugs and precursor chemicals during the period.
Marwa added that the agency secured 16,469 convictions within the same period, while more than 53,000 people affected by drug use received counselling, treatment and rehabilitation.
He stressed that the fight against illicit drugs could not be won through arrests and seizures alone.
According to him, the NDLEA has therefore continued to combine enforcement with prevention and public education through its War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, campaign.
The initiative, he said, has reached nearly 5.9 million Nigerians through programmes conducted in schools and communities, reflecting the agency’s focus on tackling both the supply and demand sides of the drug problem.
On the UAE side, NDEA Chairman, Sheikh Zayed bin Hamad Al Nahyan, reaffirmed his agency’s readiness to work closely with Nigeria to disrupt trafficking organisations taking advantage of the extensive economic and human connections between the two countries.
Al Nahyan described the agreement as a logical extension of the relationship that has developed between the two agencies, expressing confidence that closer cooperation would produce stronger results.
The pact is expected to improve the speed with which intelligence is exchanged, strengthen coordination during investigations and operations, and assist authorities in identifying the individuals and organisations behind international drug shipments.
It could also make it easier for investigators in both countries to trace trafficking networks across jurisdictions rather than treating drug seizures as isolated cases.
The agreement was signed as governments and law enforcement agencies from around the world gathered in Abu Dhabi for the United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, where international cooperation against organised crime remains a central concern.
For Nigeria and the UAE, the new partnership places greater emphasis on working together before, during and after drug shipments move across their shared corridor.
Both agencies expressed optimism that the strengthened relationship would lead to more effective joint operations and greater disruption of transnational drug trafficking organisations, while reinforcing their broader commitment to international efforts against organised crime and illicit narcotics.
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