He has held several command and staff appointments in the
Nigeria Army, including Deputy Defense Adviser at the
Nigerian Embassy in Washington DC. He was Military Governor of old Borno State (present
Borno and
Yobe states) from June 1990 to 1992. Marwa created the first Ministry of Water Resources and by direct labour, the state undertook the construction of roads and completed the Maiduguri International Hotel. The appointment of Gen Marwa as the administrator of
Borno State coincided with the time
Idriss Deby, erstwhile rebel, seized power from President
Hisen Habre, thereby dislodging members of the
Chadian Army, some of whom went rogue and carried out raids across the border into
Borno State. The marauders' pillaging of towns, villages and communities, was not unlike Boko Haram's. In 1992, Gen Marwa was posted as Registrar of the
Nigerian Defence Academy. And in 1993, he returned to foreign service as Defence Attache at the Mission of Nigeria to the
United Nations in
New York. In August 1996, he was appointed Military Administrator of
Lagos State. His three-year tenure in the state was accompanied by strategic programmes. The feats were achieved on a strict budget of N14billion. Marwa, who did not borrow from any bank throughout his tenure, handed over a cash amount of N2billion―the highest amount handed over from one state administration to another. His leadership earned him "Nigeria's Man of the Year 1997" by
Newswatch, Nigeria's oldest and influential weekly magazine. == Lagos State Governor ==