by George Ozalla
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has reappointed Brigadier-General Mohammed Buba Marwa (rtd) as Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency for another five-year term. The announcement was contained in a State House statement signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga. According to the statement, the renewed mandate keeps Marwa in office until 2031.
Marwa was first appointed in January 2021 by former President Muhammadu Buhari after serving as Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee for the Elimination of Drug Abuse from 2018 to 2020. The Adamawa-born former military officer previously governed Lagos and Borno States and is an alumnus of the Nigerian Military School and the Nigerian Defence Academy.
He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1973 and later served as brigade major of the 23 Armoured Brigade, Aide-de-Camp to the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant-General Theophilus Danjuma, and academic registrar of the Nigerian Defence Academy. He also served as Deputy Defence Adviser at the Nigerian Embassy in Washington, DC, before becoming Defence Adviser to Nigeria’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations.
Marwa holds postgraduate degrees from the University of Pittsburgh and Harvard University. His tenure at the NDLEA has recorded major breakthroughs, including the arrest of more than 73,000 drug couriers and barons and the seizure of over 15 million kilogrammes of narcotics. The agency has also expanded nationwide campaigns against drug abuse.
According to the State House statement, Tinubu described the reappointment as a vote of confidence in Marwa’s work and urged him to intensify efforts against drug traffickers targeting young Nigerians.
Marwa has been widely credited with revitalising the NDLEA through reforms, enforcement drives, and public sensitisation campaigns aimed at curbing drug abuse across the country.
