As Nigeria's anti-narcotics agency, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA given the honour to host the 31st edition of HONLAF Conference, President Bola Tinubu will be declaring the conference open alongside with the Attorney General of the Federation and the Honourable Minister of Justice, Chief Lateef Fagbemi, SAN.
Addressing journalists today, 19th September 2023, the Chairman of the NDLEA, Brigadier General Mohammed Marwa (Rtd) ably represented by the Secretary of the agency, Shadrach Haruna with Country Representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Oliver Stolpe, said the conference brings together heads of drug law enforcement agencies in Africa to discuss and develop strategies to combat drug trafficking and abuse in the region and it will take place from Tuesday, September 26 to Friday, September 29, 2023 in Abuja.
He said, delegates from 53 other African countries will converge on the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, on Monday, and for the rest of the week, they will be guests of NDLEA and the Federal Government of Nigeria and aside from delegates from African countries, there will be representatives from observer bodies and other non-African countries who will be attending to watch the proceedings
The HONLAF meeting is an annual event which was last held in Nairobi, Kenya. HONLAF is an acronym for Heads of National Drug Law Enforcement Agencies, Africa. It is a subsidiary body of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (UNCND) and a body under the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
The conference will provide opportunities for bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the main agenda on Wednesday and Thursday. Hence, there will be a series of activities between and among delegates from countries wishing to cement operational relationships with their counterparts attending the conference.
This annual HONLAF meeting features a line-up of activities that include technical meetings, paper presentations, deliberations on reports and trends, workshops, and bilateral talks among member nations. It is a platform for brokering collaborations in the areas of shared intelligence, joint training, and joint operations against international drug cartels in the African region.
The move by other heads of anti-narcotics agencies in Africa to have Nigeria host the 2023 conference followed the country’s good relationship with others on the continent and NDLEA’s exemplary performance in the renewed fight against substance abuse and illicit drug trafficking.