Pubdate: Wed, 19 Nov 2003 Source: This Day (Nigeria) Copyright: 2003 This Day. Contact: http://www.thisdayonline.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2870 Author: Godwin Haruna UNODC LAUDS NDLEA ON AFRICAN REGIONAL EFFORTS Lagos The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Vienna, Austria has commended Alhaji Bello Lafiaji, Chairman/Chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, (NDLEA)over what it described as "Lafiaji' s unparalled leading role in Africa's efforts at tackling drugs." An acknowledgement signed by Ian Munro of the Counter-Narcotics arm of the UNODC, maintained that Lafiaji's knowledge and experienced oversight of regional and global trends in illicit drug trafficking made him the perfect catalyst for the regional counter-narcotic efforts. Munro also made mention of the NDLEA chairman's landmark input into the major decisions arrived at during the recently held meeting of Heads of National Law Enforcement Agencies, HONLEA in Mauritius. "As the coordinator of the break-out specialist working groups that form the heart of the HONLEA meeting, it is always a responsibility to find well informed speakers to lead in these sessions with key note addresses that outline the salient issues. Knowing that we could draw from Lafiaji's knowledge and experience made this task very much easier", he said. He added that the work put into the keynote presentation by Lafiaji, his inspiring moderation of the workshops and skilful chairing of the sessions clearly stood him out as a reference point in proactive counter-narcotic intelligence. - --- MAP posted-by: Josh