President Bola Tinubu has renewed the appointment of Mohammed Buba Marwa, chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), for an additional five-year term.
According to a statement released by Bayo Onanuga, special adviser on information and strategy to the president, Marwa will continue to lead the NDLEA until 2031.
Marwa, a former military governor of Lagos, was initially appointed to the role by ex-President Muhammadu Buhari in January 2021, following his tenure as chairman of the presidential advisory committee for the elimination of drug abuse from 2018 to 2020.
Reacting to the extension, Tinubu encouraged Marwa to maintain his momentum in combating drug trafficking and substance abuse across the country.
“Your reappointment is a vote of confidence in your onerous efforts to rid our country of the menace of drug trafficking and drug abuse,” Tinubu said.
“I urge you not to relent in tracking the merchants of hard drugs, out to destroy our people, especially the young ones.”
Marwa is an alumnus of the Nigerian Military School and the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA).
Following his commissioning as a second lieutenant in 1973, he served in various capacities including brigade major of the 23 Armoured Brigade, aide-de-camp (ADC) to then chief of army staff Theophilus Danjuma, and academic registrar at the NDA.
He also held diplomatic military roles as deputy defence adviser at the Nigerian embassy in Washington, DC, and defence adviser to Nigeria’s permanent mission to the United Nations.
Marwa possesses two postgraduate degrees: a Master’s in Public and International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh (1983–85) and a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University (1985–86).