President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has reappointed Brigadier-General Mohammed Buba Marwa (rtd) as the Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for another five-year term.
Marwa was first appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari in January 2021, after serving as Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee for the Elimination of Drug Abuse from 2018 to December 2020.
According to a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media, Bayo Onanuga, the reappointment implies that the Adamawa native and former military officer will continue leading the NDLEA until 2031.
“Your reappointment is a vote of confidence in your onerous efforts to rid our country of the menace of drug trafficking and drug abuse. I urge you not to relent in tracking the merchants of hard drugs who are out to destroy our people, especially the young ones,” Tinubu said.
Marwa, who was the former military governor of Lagos and Borno States, is also an alumnus of the Nigerian Military School and the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA).
He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1973 and went on to serve in several roles, including Brigade Major of 23 Armoured Brigade, Aide‑de‑Camp (ADC) to then Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant‑General Theophilus Danjuma, and Registrar of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA).
Marwa also had a diplomatic role as Deputy Defence Adviser at Nigeria’s Washington, D.C. embassy and Defence Adviser to Nigeria’s UN mission.
He has two master’s degrees: one in Public and International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh (1983–85), and another in Public Administration from Harvard (1985–86).
Under his leadership, the NDLEA was said to have recorded tremendous progress in drugs, which includes the arrest of over 73,000 suspected drug traffickers and the seizure of more than 15 million kilograms of illicit substances.
