President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday approved the appointment of Rear Admiral Yaminu Ehinomen Musa (rtd) as the pioneer Coordinator of the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC).
The NCTC is established in the Office of the National Security Adviser as the coordinating body for the harmonization of all counter-terrorism and terrorism financing efforts in Nigeria.
The NCTC is also charged with the coordination of counter-terrorism policies, strategies, plans and support in the performance of the functions of the National Security Adviser, as provided in the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022.
This was disclosed in a statement by Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President, on Tuesday.
Before his appointment, Musa had been the Director of the Counter Terrorism Directorate in the ONSA since 2017.
He was responsible for the review of the National Counter Terrorism Strategy (NACTEST), and the creation of the Policy Framework and National Action Plan for Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (PCVE), which President Buhari signed into law in 2016 and 2017, respectively.
Additionally, the retired Naval senior officer served as the Nigerian representative at the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF) for the last three years.
His appointment is to take effect immediately and to run for an initial term of 5 years.