The Centre for Ethical Rebirth Among Nigerian Youths (CERANY) has commended President Muhammadu Buhari for appointing the retired Brig.-Gen, Buba Marwa as Chairman, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

The CERANY President, Chuks Akamadu, disclosed this in a statement on Monday in Abuja.

Akamadu described the appointment as timely, urging Marwa to strive to implement the reports of the Presidential Advisory Committee for the Elimination of Drug Abuse (PACEDA).

This he said, would be in the interest of Nigeria whose youths were currently being hurt by the worsening scourge of drug abuse.

“With his background as a fine soldier, erudite scholar and an accomplished public administrator as well as the painstaking, rigorous and exhaustive job he did as Chairman, PACEDA, this appointment is a square peg in a square hole.

“As military administrator of Lagos State, he literally ran criminals out of town through his administration’s ingenious Operation Sweep initiative, which brought crime and criminality in the nation’s commercial capital to its knees.

“It is for these compelling reasons that a broad spectrum of stakeholders in the fight against drug abuse in Nigeria are super-excited about this brilliant choice of Buhari.

“And we are breathlessly waiting for the NDLEA, under his watch, to commence the urgent task of sweeping Nigeria clean of all narcotic substances and illicit trafficking,” he said.

Buhari approved the appointment of Marwa as the new NDLEA chairman on Jan.15, after the expiration of the tenure of the former chairman, retired Col. Muhammad Abdallah.

Marwa was Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee for the Elimination of Drug Abuse (PACEDA) between 2018 and December 2019 which developed a blueprint on how to end drug abuse in Nigeria.

CERANY is a voluntary civil society organisation which seeks to invent for Nigeria, a morally healthy nation, rich in the cultural-cum-attitudinal capital required to give the nation a sustainable purposeful direction.