US, UN Train NDLEA, Nine Others To Combat Drug Trafficking

The United States government and the United Nations have launched a joint training programme for drug enforcement officers from Nigeria and nine other West African countries, in a coordinated push to dismantle transnational drug trafficking networks that have increasingly used the region as a hub for smuggling narcotics into Europe and North America.

The U.S. Mission in Nigeria announced the initiative on Friday, April 24, 2026, saying the training was delivered through the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. Officers of Nigeria’s National Drug Law Enforcement Agency were among the participants, alongside counterparts from nine other West African nations.

According to the mission, the hands-on programme covered a range of critical areas including dismantling clandestine drug laboratories, sharpening investigative techniques, deepening intelligence sharing between regional agencies and disrupting criminal networks operating across borders.

“From dismantling clandestine drug labs to sharpening investigative techniques, the United States supports West African drug enforcement agencies in their fight against transnational drug traffickers that harm Americans and Africans alike,” the mission said in a statement.

The training is part of a long running collaboration between the U.S. and UNODC to strengthen West Africa’s capacity to combat drug crime. The two bodies have previously delivered joint programmes on cyber-enabled drug trafficking investigations, financial aspects of drug crime, and the detection and dismantling of clandestine laboratories, with Nigeria consistently at the centre of those efforts.

The urgency of the initiative is underscored by the scale of the problem. West Africa, once primarily a transit zone for cocaine moving from South America to Europe and North America, has in recent years also emerged as a production hub for synthetic drugs. Nigeria’s NDLEA has discovered 21 clandestine laboratories in the country since 2011, including illicit methamphetamine facilities. The drug, known locally as Mkpuru Mmiri, triggered an outbreak of abuse across Nigeria’s South East region in late 2021.

Beyond production, Nigeria remains a major transit point for heroin and cocaine bound for European, East Asian and North American markets, a role that has made building the NDLEA’s operational capacity a priority for both Washington and the UN.

The U.S. mission said the programme’s ultimate goal was to make both West Africa and the United States safer from the threat of transnational drug trafficking by stopping drugs at source and protecting communities across the region.

“This hands-on program strengthens the region’s ability to confront drug cartels by deepening cooperation and intelligence-sharing between NDLEA and its counterparts and boosting their capacity to disrupt criminal networks, stop drugs at source, and protect communities across West Africa, making the region and America safer,” the statement read.