President Bola Tinubu has approved another five-year term for Brigadier-General Mohammed Buba Marwa (rtd) as Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), the State House announced on Friday.
Marwa, first appointed in January 2021 by former President Muhammadu Buhari, will now remain at the helm of the agency until 2031.
Before taking over leadership at the NDLEA, he served as Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee for the Elimination of Drug Abuse from 2018 to December 2020. His reappointment was disclosed in a statement issued on November 14, 2025, by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy.
According to the statement, Marwa brings decades of military and administrative expertise to the role. A graduate of the Nigerian Military School and the Nigerian Defence Academy, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1973. Over the years, 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 Nigerian Defence Academy.”
Marwa’s international experience includes stints as “Deputy Defence Adviser in the Nigerian Embassy in Washington, DC, and later as Defence Adviser to the Nigerian Permanent Mission to the United Nations.” He also holds advanced degrees, including “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).”
Under his leadership, the NDLEA has recorded major breakthroughs in the fight against drug trafficking. The State House highlighted “many drug busts, including the arrests of 73,000 drug mules and barons and seizures of over 15 million kilogrammes of various hard drugs.” The agency has also intensified nationwide sensitisation campaigns aimed at reducing drug abuse.
President Tinubu commended Marwa’s performance, 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.”
A former military governor of Lagos and Borno States, Marwa now faces the responsibility of consolidating the NDLEA’s achievements and further enhancing its operational capacity.
The presidency added that the renewed tenure “means the Adamawa-born former military officer will remain at the helm of the NDLEA until 2031.”
