PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has approved the reappointment of Mohammed Marwa, a retired Brigadier-General, as the Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), extending his tenure till 2031.
This was contained in a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, on Friday, November 14.
The statement noted that the reappointment meant the Adamawa-born former military officer would remain at the helm of the NDLEA until 2031.
“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”, Onanuga quoted Tinubu as saying.
He described Marwa’s tenure at the NDLEA as being marked by major drug busts, including the arrest of more than 73,000 drug traffickers and barons, as well as the seizure of over 15 million kilogrammes of assorted illicit substances.
“Under his leadership, the agency has also rolled out nationwide campaigns aimed at combating drug abuse,” he wrote.
Marwa was first appointed in January 2021 by former President Muhammadu Buhari, following his tenure as Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee for the Elimination of Drug Abuse between 2018 and December 2020.
Marwa, who previously served as military governor of Lagos and Borno States, is an alumnus of the Nigerian Military School and the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA).
After being commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1973, he went on to serve as brigade major of the 23 Armoured Brigade, Aide-de-Camp (ADC) to the then Chief of Army Staff, Theophilus Danjuma, a retired lieutenant general, and later as academic registrar of the Nigerian Defence Academy.
He also served as Deputy Defence Adviser at the Nigerian Embassy in Washington, DC, and later as Defence Adviser to Nigeria’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations.
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).
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues. She has documented sexual war crimes in armed conflict, sex for grades in Nigerian Universities, harmful traditional practices and human trafficking.