Tinubu sticks with marwa as anti-drug czar for another five years
President Bola Tinubu has handed Brigadier-General (rtd) Mohammed Buba Marwa a fresh five-year mandate as Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency — a move that will keep the battle-hardened former military governor at the helm of Nigeria’s anti-drug war until 2031.
Marwa, an Adamawa-born officer who first took charge of the NDLEA in 2021 under former President Muhammadu Buhari, has long been seen as one of the administration’s most assertive foot soldiers in the fight against drug trafficking and abuse. His latest reappointment, announced in a statement by presidential aide Bayo Onanuga on November 14, is being framed as a resounding endorsement of his results-driven leadership.
Tinubu himself hailed Marwa’s record, praising his “onerous efforts” and urging him to intensify his crackdown on traffickers “out to destroy our people, especially the young ones”.
Marwa’s résumé is steeped in decades of military and public service. A product of the Nigerian Military School and the Nigerian Defence Academy, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1973 before rising through a string of high-profile roles — including Brigade Major of the 23 Armoured Brigade, Aide-de-Camp to then–Army Chief Lieutenant-General Theophilus Danjuma, and Academic Registrar of the NDA.
He later served abroad, first as Deputy Defence Adviser at the Nigerian Embassy in Washington, DC, and then as Defence Adviser to Nigeria’s Permanent Mission to the UN.
Alongside his military pedigree, Marwa holds two elite postgraduate degrees: a Master of Public and International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh and a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University.
His tenure at the NDLEA has been marked by sweeping operations across the country — from busting major trafficking networks to driving public campaigns against drug abuse. Under his watch, the agency has arrested more than 73,000 suspected drug mules and cartel operatives while seizing over 15 million kilogrammes of illicit substances.
With his renewed mandate secured, Marwa now faces the task of deepening those gains — and tightening the noose on Nigeria’s drug syndicates — for another decisive five years.