NDLEA Chairman Mohammed Marwa
From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig-Gen Mohamed Marwa, has identified sustainable skills development and enterprise support as the most effective strategies for curbing drug abuse and building resilient communities.
Marwa, who stated this in Abuja at the official launch of the New Dawn for Women and Community Intervention Initiative (NEWOMCII), where the Director General of the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Prof. Ayo Omotayo urged rural women to embrace Artificial Intelligence for speedy access to justice.
Marwa equally stressed the need for bold and visionary initiatives focused on women empowerment, youth development, agribusiness, skills acquisition, and community intervention.
He also called for women’s empowerment to enable them to make meaningful contributions to the country’s economic development.
“When women rise, and youths are empowered, communities thrive. Investing in women and young people is investing in lasting change,” he said, in a message delivered to the event through an Assistant Commandant of Narcotics of the NDLEA, Etuka Chizioba Ifeoma.
He also expressed readiness to collaborate with the organisation in areas of mutual interest, including youth empowerment, community sensitisation, and the promotion of drug-free lifestyles.
In his keynote address, the Director-General of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Prof. Ayo Omotayo, called for a shift from advocacy to concrete action in advancing gender equality and community development across Nigeria.
Speaking on the theme, “Empowering Women and Communities: A Practical Pathway for Transformation and Sustainable Development,” the NIPSS boss emphasised the need to domesticate international agreements to make them effective within Nigeria’s socio-cultural context.
Earlier, the founder and Chairman of NEWOMCII, Bolaji Raji, said the organisation was established in response to the lack of opportunities and support systems available to many women and youths at the grassroots.
According to him, the organisation was created to drive practical empowerment and demand-driven capacity building through agribusiness, arts, creative enterprise, skills acquisition, and community interventions.
Also speaking at the event, the national coordinator of NEWOMCII, Sa’adatu Bokane Adamu, said the organisation focuses on agriculture, agribusiness, creativity, arts and crafts — sectors in which women play critical roles in national economic development.
She said the initiative had, within a short period, impacted several women’s groups and communities through interventions in health, education, mobility, safety planning, humanitarian services, training, and capacity building.
