- By Kamil Opeyemi
The Presidency has made fresh appointments as part of the moves to beef up the Office of the National Security Adviser.
The new appointees will head the National Counterterrorism Agency while the other will head the agency for small arms.
According to a statement by Ajuri Ngelale, Special Adviser to the President on Media, President Bola Tinubu approved the appointment of new Coordinators for the National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC) and National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW).
Ngelale said that new Coordinator for the NCTC is Maj.-Gen. Adamu Garba Laka while that of the NCCSALW is retired DIG Johnson Babatunde Kokumo, both under the Office of the National Security Adviser.
The presidential spokesman said that Laka served in various capacities in the North-East, where he deployed tactical means to degrade terrorist groups.
He said that Laka also served in Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo under the United Nations and was part of the Nigerian contingent in the US AFRICOM exercise in Senegal.
He holds Master’s Degrees in National Security from the National Defence University, Pakistan, and in International Affairs and Strategic Studies, Nigerian Defence Academy.
Ngelale said that Kokumo is a seasoned and accomplished law enforcement professional with over 30 years of experience in crime prevention, management, analysis and control.
He said that Kokumo was Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Force Criminal Intelligence and Investigations Department, Force Headquarters, Abuja, from 2022 to 2023.
Ngelale said that the President anticipated that the new appointees would bring their vast experiences into these critical roles to effectively remove security threats through pre-emptive, proactive and diligent coordination.