President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of Rear Admiral Yaminu Ehinomen Musa (rtd) as the pioneer coordinator of the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC).
According to a statement by his media aide, Femi Adesina, the NCTC is established in the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) as the coordinating body for the harmonisation of all counter-terrorism and terrorism financing efforts in Nigeria.
The centre is equally charged with the coordination of counter-terrorism policies, strategies, plans and support in the performance of the functions of the national security adviser (NSA), as provided in the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022.
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 officer served as the Nigerian representative at the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF) for the last 3 years.
His appointment takes immediate effect and will run for an initial term of five years.
