•Tinubu and Marwa
President Bola Tinubu has renewed the appointment of Brigadier-General Mohammed Buba Marwa (rtd) as Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for another five-year term, extending his leadership until 2031.
Marwa, who hails from Adamawa State, was first appointed NDLEA Chairman in January 2021 by former President Muhammadu Buhari, reports Channels TV.
Before that, he served as Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee for the Elimination of Drug Abuse from 2018 to December 2020.
His reappointment was contained in a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, on November 14, 2025.
Tinubu described Marwa’s reappointment as a vote of confidence in his agency’s efforts in tackling the menace of drug trafficking.
“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,” Tinubu said.
However, The Frontier reports that during Marwa’s administration at the NDLEA, numerous Nigerian youths have taken to open street consumption and hawking of hard drugs which has now become a menace across the country and serious embarrassment to well meaning citizens.
Meanwhile, Marwa, a former military governor of Lagos and Borno states, is an alumnus of the Nigerian Military School and the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA). After his commissioning as a second lieutenant in 1973, he served as Brigade Major of the 23 Armoured Brigade, Aide-de-Camp (ADC) to the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant-General Theophilus Danjuma, and Academic Registrar of the NDA.
He also held diplomatic roles as Deputy Defence Adviser at the Nigerian Embassy in Washington, DC, and 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 (1983–85) and a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University (1985–86).
During his tenure at NDLEA, Marwa oversaw significant successes, including the arrest of 73,000 drug mules and barons and the seizure of over 15 million kilogrammes of various hard drugs.
The agency has also conducted nationwide campaigns to combat drug abuse under his leadership.
