A Tribute To Mohammed Buba Marwa, The Outstanding Public Administrator And Anti-drug Boss -By Gozie Irogboli

One of the remarkable things about Gen. Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida is his incredible ability to identify talents and engage them. He reputed as the leader in Nigeria history that appointed the best brains from both the military and in the intellectual class. And in terms of achievement in public service, personal attributes and general conduct, Brigadier General Mohammed Buba Marwa, CON, the current chairman of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), stands out as one of the best of the crop of military elites of that era. I do not know Marwa in person, but as a public policy analyst who studies public policies and monitors programs of public officeholders, I have taken special interest in him on account of his outstanding performances in office as a public officer who understands his mandates and seeks to accomplish them accordingly.

Interestingly too, in the current dispensation, the anti-drug trafficking boss appears to be one of the very few public officers that are always in the news and for the right reasons; a reason, the President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, reappointed him even before the expiration of his tenure.

By all standards, the anti-narcotics czar has proved to be an outstanding public administrator with a sound service philosophy which is in line with the Nolan principles which emphasizes leadership, selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness and honesty in public service. He believes that strongly that public service is about service to the nation and the people.

It is not difficult to see what shaped his service philosophy. It is a combination of factors ranging from his background, military training and academic orientation as well as his childhood socialization that took him across many cities in Nigeria from Kaduna where he was born to Enugu, Zaria, Abeokuta and Lagos; the multi-cultural exposure that also shaped his liberal and cosmopolitan view of life and strengthened his patriotic fervor. Buba Marwa comes from a family of soldiers. His grandfather Buba Yola, was a soldier, his father Buba Marwa was a soldier, his late brother, Major Gen. Adamu Marwa was a soldier and at present his own son Mohammed Marwa Jr. who is also pursuing a doctoral degree program in University of Buckingham is a colonel in Nigeria army. Apart from being a soldier, Buba Marwa is also a scholar. He has two master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Pittsburg and Harvard. It is also a matter of interest that four of his children: Mohammed Marwa Jr., Abubakar Marwa, Mariam Marwa and Zainab Marwa all read law at University of Buckingham, United Kingdom.

Brigadier General Buba Marwa is a man of many parts: an outstanding public administrator, a governor, a soldier, a statesman, a patriot, name it. Those close to him said that he is a disciplined and a highly principled person who leads by example. One significant thing about him as a public officer is his leadership and problem solving skills which enables to identify and tackle the major challenges of any environment he finds himself. This he did in Borno and Lagos where he served as governor and is currently doing in the NDLEA.

Before his appointment into public service, he has held several command positions in the army and in diplomatic service. And wherever he is, he makes his mark. From Borno State to Lagos State and now to the NDLEA, the story is the same. He has proved to be a performer with incredible administrative ingenuity.

In Borno, his 18-months stay as military administrator was a blessing to his people. His tenure as military administrator of Borno coincided with the time Idriss Deby rebels seized power in Chad from Hisen Habre dislodging some Chadian armies who resorted to carrying out cross border raids into the Nigeria border. He tackled this security threat by deploying rapid-response military task force equipped with helicopters to check the incursion of those foreign armed bandits. To tackle the acute water problem in the state, he established the state’s first Ministry of Water Resources to improve public water supply system. And for infrastructural development and maintenance, he established the state’s Direct Labor Agency and used it to fast-track road construction and rehabilitation across the state. He also completed the construction of the Maiduguri International Hotel. In the health care sector, he invested productively in the rural and urban health care delivery by constructing about seven general hospitals across the state.

In Lagos he achieved in less than three years what others governors could not do in more years. He established a joint military security team code-named “Operation Sweep” to tackle the high rate of armed robbery and violent crimes that were prevalent in Lagos at that time. He also realized that Lagos has one of the worst rural and suburban environment and set about to remedy that by establishing Operation 250 Roads Program designed to rehabilitate, repair and upgrade major inner-city roads to improve traffic flow, mobility and economic activities. He initiated the urban renewal program in Lagos. As part of this program, he established Asphalt Plant in Lagos in 1998 to support and sustained road maintenance and other construction projects. Again as part of his effort to facilitate mobility and stimulate economic activities, Marwa facilitated the introduction and popularization of tricycle as a viable alternative means of public transportation. That is why today, tricycle is still called “Keke Marwa” in Lagos and other parts of the country.

Furthermore, to ease the housing deficit in Lagos during his time, he facilitated the construction of several housing estates across the state and enacted an edict to regulate arbitrary rent increases to protect the people from the shylock Lagos landlords. In the health and social services, he made his mark also by upgrading public health institutions across Lagos and introduced free malaria treatment accessible to all residents. He established the Lagos State University College of Medicine (LASUCOM) Teaching Hospital. He encouraged tourism by building the Eko Tourism Beach Resort…

To the performing general, public service is about prudent resource management; probity, transparency and accountability. And that is why he executed all these extensive programs in Lagos operating on a lean budget of about N14 billion, without borrowing and yet left in the state coffers a cash balance of N2 billion to his successor in 1999.

Under the leadership of Marwa, the NDLEA has undergone significant institutional reforms. Available records indicates that the staff welfare and motivation have been upgraded. They have recorded major operation milestones in the area of massive arrest (about 77,000 including 128 major drug barons), record seizures (over 15million kg of illicit drugs interceptions), high rate of conviction (about 14,000), and financial recoveries. The major drug-trafficking cartels as well as their financial networks are being dismantled. The NDLEA under the leadership of Brig-general Buba Marwa has created different platforms to enable stakeholders’ participation in the war against drug trafficking and abuse for effective enlightenment campaigns, Rehab and Counselling and has gone ahead to establish the Alternative Development Program that is designed to empower the local growers of cannabis to trade off its cultivation with legitimate crops. The NDLEA alternative development program has been internationally acknowledged as the first of its kind in Africa.

And for his achievements, he has many awards in his kitty. Among the awards are: national honors of the Officer of the Federal Republic (OFR), in 2003 and Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) in 2022, four PhDs (honoris causa) from different universities, the Outstanding Leadership Award by the Center for Multicultural Leadership from University of Kansas, USA which he received in 2003, among others.

As the great administrator marks his 73^rd birthday today, the 9^th day of September, 2026, I wish to join the members of his family, the NDLEA family, his friends and associates as well as his numerous admirers and well-wishers all over the country in wishing him a happy birthday and many more years of sound health and fruitful service to the nation.

As the distinguished officer climbs the septuagenarian ladder, I feel delighted in celebrating his numerous accomplishments in public service. I have always emphasized that the purpose of writing a tribute to performers and achievers is not just to eulogize them but to encourage and inspire the younger generation to aspire to achieve greatness, taking into consideration the paucity of real role models in this era of decadent societal values. And for sure, Marwa’s accomplishments in public service, his sterling attributes and life of discipline, sound work ethics, integrity, passion for service, patriotic fervor etcetera will inspire many.

Gozie Irogboli

(goziei@yahoo.com)

An economist, banker, a novelist and public policy analyst