President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of retired Rear Admiral Yaminu Musa as the first National Counter Terrorism Centre Coordinator (NCTC).
This was confirmed by Femi Adesina, Spokesman to President Buhari in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja.
“His appointment is to take effect immediately and to run for an initial term of 5 years,” Adesina further revealed.
The NCTC was created in the Office of the National Security Advisor (ONSA) to serve as the coordinating body for the nation’s counterterrorism and anti-terrorist financing initiatives.
The NCTC 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.
Mr. Musa had been the Director of the Counter Terrorism Directorate in the ONSA since 2017 prior to his appointment.
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).
Buhari signed into law NACTEST and PCVE in 2016 and 2017 respectively.
The retired Naval senior officer had also served as the Nigerian representative at the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF) for the last 3 years.
