President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of Rear Admiral Yaminu Ehinomen Musa (retd.) as the pioneer Coordinator of the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC).

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, who announced the appointment in a statement issued on Tuesday, said it would take effect immediately and run for an initial term of five years.

He said before his appointment, Musa who had been the Director of the Counter Terrorism Directorate in the Office of National Security Adviser (ONSA) since 2017 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 the president signed into law in 2016 and 2017, respectively.

Adesina added that Musa had served as the Nigerian representative at the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF) for the last three years.

The presidential spokesman said the NCTC was 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 the country.

He said the NCTC was 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.