Tinubu renews Mohamed Buba Marwa’s 5-year tenure as NDLEA Chairman

*Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu reappoints Brigadier-General Mohammed Buba Marwa (Rtd.) as Chairman, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, for a fresh five-year term, stating Marwa’s reappointment is ‘a vote of confidence’ in your onerous efforts to rid our country of the menace of drug trafficking and drug abuse’

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has reappointed Brigadier-General Mohammed Buba Marwa (Rtd.) as the Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for a fresh five-year term.

It is recalled that late President Muhammadu Buhari first appointed January 2021, after serving as the Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee for the Elimination of Drug Abuse from 2018 to December 2020.

Mr. Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, whoc disclosed President Tinubu’s renewal of Marwa’s appointment Friday, November 14, 2025, stated that the reappointment means the Adamawa-born former Military Officer would remain as the Chief Executive of NDLEA till 2031.

Marwa, a former Military Governor of Lagos and Borno States, is a graduate of the Nigerian Military School and the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), Kaduna, Northern Nigeria.

After his commissioning as a second lieutenant in 1973, Marwa served as brigade major of the 23 Armoured Brigade, Aide-de-Camp (ADC) to the Chief of Army Staff, (COAS) Lieutenant-General Theophilus Danjuma, and Academic Registrar of the Nigerian Defence Academy.

The Chairman of the anti-narcotics regulatory agency also served as Deputy Defence Adviser in the Nigerian Embassy, in Washington, D.C., in the United States (US), and later as Defence Adviser to the Nigerian Permanent Mission to the United Nations (UN).

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).

The Presidency in the statement also noted Marwa’s tenure in the NDLEA has been remarkable for several drug busts, including the arrests of 73,000 drug mules and barons, and seizures of over 15 million kilogrammes of various hard drugs.

Under his leadership, the agency has also launched nationwide campaigns to address drug abuse, Onanuga said.

The Presidential aide further stated Tinubu said: “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.”