diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index e06894dc7..1f7c7747e 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -34,7 +34,6 @@ ENABLE_PYOSYS := 1
 ENABLE_GCOV := 0
 ENABLE_GPROF := 0
 ENABLE_DEBUG := 0
-ENABLE_NDEBUG := 1
 ENABLE_LTO := 1
 ENABLE_CCACHE := 0
 # sccache is not always a drop-in replacement for ccache in practice