Office of Public Safety and National Interest
Truth In Ink – Special Advisory Committee
Monrovia, Republic of Liberia
July 19, 2025
His Excellency Joseph Nyuma Boakai, Sr.
President of the Republic of Liberia
Executive Mansion
Capitol Hill, Monrovia
Subject:
Submission of Special Advisory Memorandum on National Security Threats from Transnational Narcotics Networks
Your Excellency,
I extend to you the highest esteem and appreciation for your continued service to the Republic at a time when the nation faces complex social, economic, and security challenges.
On behalf of the Truth In Ink Special Advisory Committee and the Office of Public Safety and National Interest, I respectfully submit for your attention the enclosed Special Advisory Memorandum, titled:
“A Call for Immediate Presidential Action to Safeguard National Security Against Transnational Narcotics Networks.”
This memorandum reflects a collective concern voiced by Liberian citizens, especially mothers, educators, community leaders, and youth, regarding the growing threat of illicit drug trafficking and its entanglement with foreign criminal networks, particularly along channels exploited by transnational actors.
It outlines recent developments, constitutional obligations, legal precedents, and actionable recommendations aimed at securing the nation’s welfare, sovereignty, and public health.
Your Excellency, we recognize the sensitivities that accompany such measures, but we are equally convinced that the time calls for courageous and principled action. The memorandum respectfully proposes a temporary moratorium on the entry of a specific group of foreign nationals as a matter of national survival, not exclusion. It is a recommendation grounded in law, precedent, and the protective mandate of the presidency.
We trust that you will give this advisory your full consideration and, if you deem appropriate, initiate further engagement through relevant national security institutions and the Liberian Cabinet.
Thank you for your attention and kind consideration.
With every good wish and in continued service to the Republic,
On Behalf of Crying Mothers and Affected Youth of the Republic
Attached: Special Advisory Memorandum
To: His Excellency Joseph Nyuma Boakai, Sr.
President of the Republic of Liberia
Executive Mansion, Capitol Hill, Monrovia
Subject:
A Call for Immediate Presidential Action to Safeguard National Security Against Transnational Narcotics Networks
Your Excellency,
The Republic finds itself at a troubling crossroads. The widespread proliferation of illicit drugs is not only corroding our social fabric but also endangering Liberia’s national security, economic potential. The Liberian people are in pain.
Our communities are being gutted by the scourge of illicit drugs, our youth are wasting away in street corners, our mothers are crying in agony, and our national image is increasingly entangled with international drug cartels that exploit our borders, ports, and porous enforcement systems.
The consequences of inaction are playing out daily, in shattered homes, collapsing communities, and the anguished voices of Liberian mothers watching their children succumb to addiction.
While current data from the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency (LDEA) may not yet provide a consolidated breakdown of narcotics arrests by nationality, a clear pattern has emerged, underscored not only by public perception but by documented events that have made national and international headlines. These include:
- October 2022: Over $100 million worth of cocaine was seized at the Freeport of Monrovia, concealed in frozen goods. The bust, widely reported, was linked to a transnational operation involving suspected Nigerian nationals.
- April 2023: Police operations in Montserrado and Margibi counties uncovered major trafficking routes for kush, tramadol, and other synthetic substances. Several of these operations were traced to Nigerian-owned businesses in Paynesville.
- July 2024: Two Nigerian nationals were arrested at Roberts International Airport in connection with narcotics trafficking networks stretching across Ghana and Sierra Leone.
- Most recently, the arrest of a 39-year-old Liberian woman, Ms. Quita Dolo Kosso, revealed direct links to Nigerian sponsors who reportedly financed and managed the narcotics supply chain.
These are not isolated incidents. They reflect a systemic and organized infiltration of Liberia’s borders, institutions, and communities by foreign criminal networks, using our territory as both a transit and target market. near impunity.
Your Excellency, the Liberian Constitution places an unambiguous duty on the Government to protect the Republic and its people. Article 7 affirms:
“The Republic shall manage the national economy and the natural resources of Liberia in such manner as shall ensure the maximum feasible participation of Liberian citizens under conditions of equality as to advance the general welfare of the people…”
Your Excellency, the Constitution, under Article 7 of the 1986 Constitution, obligates the Government to protect national resources and advance public welfare. It reads:
“The Republic shall manage the national economy and the natural resources of Liberia in such manner as shall ensure the maximum feasible participation of Liberian citizens under conditions of equality as to advance the general welfare of the people…”
The flood of narcotics undermines this very mandate, robbing our youth of potential and opening the gates to foreign influence that damages our national welfare.
What participation do we speak of when our children are on “kush” and our future leaders are becoming addicts? What protection do we promise when our enforcement institutions are overrun, and our sovereignty is mocked in plain sight?
It is therefore difficult to reconcile this obligation with the ongoing drug epidemic, which disproportionately affects our youth, the very demographic meant to inherit and drive the national economy. As a result, Liberia’s public safety, national welfare, and sovereignty are increasingly under siege.
Policy Recommendation: A Targeted Five-Year Moratorium on Entry of Nigerian Nationals
In light of the escalating crisis, we respectfully recommend the issuance of an Executive Order establishing a temporary five-year moratorium on the entry of Nigerian nationals into Liberia, excluding the following categories:
- Accredited diplomatic and consular officials
- ECOWAS and AU representatives and envoys
- Registered humanitarian, intergovernmental, and academic delegations
We acknowledge, Mr. President, that drug trafficking is a complex phenomenon. We admit that this epidemic may involve more than just Nigerians or foreign nationals. Sadly, some of our own compatriots are entangled in this web.
However, our call to restrict this group of individuals from entering the country is aimed at dismantling the international transactional threat that appears to control or significantly influence this drug syndicate.
Mr. President, this moratorium is not proposed as an act of xenophobia, but as a calibrated, national security response to an identifiable and escalating transnational threat.
Implementing such a measure would offer Liberia’s law enforcement and public health institutions much-needed room to recalibrate their domestic response without the added strain of foreign coordination networks exploiting legal and commercial entry points.
Your Excellency, Liberia would not be alone in taking such an extraordinary step under extraordinary circumstances. Precedents abound across democratic societies, for examples:
- The United States (Executive Order 13769, 2017) restricted entry from specific countries based on national security concerns.
- The United Kingdom has suspended visa processing and immigration privileges for specific national groups in response to fraud and trafficking cases.
- Australia, during the COVID-19 pandemic, barred even its own citizens from reentry when public health necessitated such measures.
These examples affirm the principle that national interest and public safety, when under serious threat, may lawfully and temporarily override conventional mobility and diplomatic norms.
Your Excellency is vested with clear constitutional authority to implement such actions:
- Article 54(e) empowers you to appoint customs, immigration, and law enforcement officials, positioning you at the helm of our national security framework.
- Article 15(c) restricts even freedom of expression where it poses a threat to public order or national security.
- Article 86(b) recognizes the legitimacy of measures taken in response to a “clear and present danger to the existence, security, or well-being of the Republic.”
Furthermore, under the Aliens and Nationality Law, the President is authorized to restrict the entry of foreign nationals whose presence is deemed inimical to the national interest or public order.
Your Excellency, as we conclude, we respectfully emphasize that the time for cautious diplomacy has passed. We are at the edge of a national catastrophe. Liberia is bleeding, not only from poverty and corruption, but from drugs.
Mothers are weeping. Schools are emptying. Communities are dissolving. The evidence may not be neatly filed in a database, but it is etched in the faces of our children, the cries of our communities, and the headlines around the world.
The facts may not yet be compiled in an official government ledger, but they are inscribed daily in the cries of grieving parents, the headlines of national media, and the collapse of once-thriving communities.
To stop this downward spiral, bold and protective action is required. Where diplomacy delays, leadership must act. Where protocol hesitates, duty must rise.
With the highest regard and a shared commitment to national preservation, we remain at your service and in full support of a safer, more sovereign Republic.
Respectfully submitted,
Sidiki Fofana
Truth In Ink / Special Advisory Committee
On Behalf of Concerned Citizens, Particularly the Mothers and Youth of the Nation.
