President Bola Tinubu has reappointed Buba Marwa as chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency for a further five-year term.

A State House statement confirmed the development on Friday, noting that Mr Marwa, who was first appointed by former President Muhammadu Buhari in January 2021, will now remain at the helm of the anti-narcotics agency until 2031.

Mr Marwa had served as chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee for the Elimination of Drug Abuse from 2018 to December 2020, prior to his first appointment as NDLEA boss.

Mr Marwa was also a former military administrator (governor) of Lagos and Borno.

The statement said Mr Marwa brings decades of experience to the role.

A graduate of the Nigerian Military School and the Nigerian Defence Academy, Mr Marwa was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1973 and went on to serve as brigade major of the 23 Armoured Brigade, aide-de-camp to then-chief of army staff Lieutenant-General Theophilus Danjuma, and academic registrar of the NDA.

He also served abroad 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.

Under his leadership, the NDLEA has recorded remarkable achievements.

The statement 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”.

“Your reappointment is a vote of confidence in your onerous efforts to rid our country of the menace of drug trafficking and drug abuse,” stated Mr Tinubu. “I urge you not to relent in tracking the merchants of hard drugs, out to destroy our people, especially the young ones.”