Buhari appoints Marwa chairman of NDLEA

President Muhammadu Buhari has appointed a former military administrator of Lagos State, Brigadier General Mohammed Buba Marwa (rtd), as chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, confirmed the report while responding to a media enquiry on Saturday.

“It’s true. The President has approved General Marwa as the new NDLEA chairman,” he said in a text message.

The appointment is with immediate effect.

Marwa was before now chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee for the Elimination of Drug Abuse, PACEDA, between 2018 and December 2020, where he presided over the development of a blueprint on how to end drug abuse in Nigeria.

Stakeholders had hailed the comprehensive report of the committee under Marwa’s watch.

As Lagos military administrator, Marwa is credited to have introduced Operation Sweep, a security outfit that helped to restore sanity and discipline to security in Nigeria’s commercial capital.

Supporters of President Buhari and the All Progressives Congress have been congratulating the Adamawa-born retired military general on his appointment via Twitter.

Others have also been commenting on the appointment with reference to Marwa’s work in the past and the optimism that he will do more.

A graduate of the Nigerian Military School and the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), Kaduna, Marwa also has a master’s degree in Public Administration from Harvard University and another master’s degree in International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh.