President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has reappointed Brigadier-General Mohammed Buba Marwa (rtd) as Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for a second five-year term.
This was disclosed in a statement issued by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, on Friday.
In the statement, President Tinubu praised Marwa’s efforts, saying, “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, out to destroy our people, especially the young ones.”
Marwa, who was first appointed by former President Muhammadu Buhari in January 2021, previously served as Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee for the Elimination of Drug Abuse from 2018 to 2020.
The reappointment ensures that the Adamawa-born former military officer will continue to lead the NDLEA until 2031.
Marwa, a former military governor of Lagos and Borno States, is a graduate of the Nigerian Military School and the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA).
Commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1973, he served in several key military roles, including brigade major of the 23 Armoured Brigade, Aide-de-Camp to the Chief of Army Staff, and academic registrar of the NDA.
He also represented Nigeria as Deputy Defence Adviser at the Nigerian Embassy in Washington, DC, and later as Defence Adviser to the Nigerian Permanent Mission to the United Nations.
Marwa holds two postgraduate degrees: a Master of Public and International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh (1983–1985) and a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University (1985–1986).
During his tenure at the NDLEA, Marwa has overseen numerous high-profile operations, including the arrest of over 73,000 drug mules and barons, as well as the seizure of more than 15 million kilogrammes of various hard drugs.
He has also led nationwide campaigns to combat drug abuse.
