President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved the renewal of Brigadier-General Mohammed Buba Marwa’s (rtd) appointment as Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for an additional five-year tenure.
Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, disclosed this in a statement on Friday.
Marwa was originally appointed by the late President Muhammadu Buhari in January 2021, following his role as Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee for the Elimination of Drug Abuse between 2018 and December 2020.
The renewed mandate ensures that the Adamawa-born retired officer will continue to lead the NDLEA until 2031.
Marwa, who previously served as military governor of Lagos and Borno States, is an alumnus of the Nigerian Military School and the Nigerian Defence Academy, NDA.
After being commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1973, Marwa served as brigade major of the 23 Armoured Brigade, Aide-de-Camp (ADC) to Chief of Army Staff Lieutenant-General Theophilus Danjuma, and academic registrar of the Nigerian Defence Academy. He also worked as Deputy Defence Adviser at the Nigerian Embassy in Washington, DC, and later as Defence Adviser to Nigeria’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations.
He holds two postgraduate degrees: a Master of Public and International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh (1983–85) and a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University (1985–86).
His leadership at the NDLEA has been distinguished by major drug interceptions, including the arrests of 73,000 traffickers and barons and the seizure of more than 15 million kilogrammes of assorted hard drugs.
Under his watch, the agency has also intensified nationwide sensitisation efforts aimed at combating drug abuse.
“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”, President Tinubu said.
