Tinubu appoints ex-Major General Fadewa as homeland security adviser

President Bola Tinubu has appointed retired Major General Adeyinka Fadewa as Special Adviser on Homeland Security, creating the position for the first time at the federal level in Nigeria.

The appointment was announced on Monday in a statement from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

According to the statement, the announcement was conveyed through a circular signed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, and issued by the Permanent Secretary of the General Services Office, Dr Ibrahim Abubakar Kana.

The new role is expected to strengthen coordination on internal security matters and support the Federal Government’s efforts in tackling insecurity across the country.

Major General Fadewa, a retired senior military officer, is expected to bring his experience in security operations and strategic planning to the newly created office.

According to the statement, the appointment “underscores the commitment of the administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu to strengthening internal security coordination, enhancing intelligence-driven operations, and deepening inter-agency collaboration in addressing emerging security threats across the country”.

While some states had once in a while created comparable positions at the sub-national level, no previous Nigerian president had established a dedicated homeland security advisory role in the presidency.

The creation of the office marks a departure from Nigeria’s traditional security architecture, which has historically concentrated advisory functions within the National Security Adviser’s NSA office.

Fadewa brings over three decades of military and intelligence experience to the pioneer role, with a career spanning national security strategy, intelligence fusion, counter-terrorism operations, and international security diplomacy.

His most consequential assignment was as Principal General Staff Officer to the National Security Adviser at the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) between 2015 and 2021, where he drove the establishment of the Intelligence Fusion Centre, an integrated multi-agency intelligence platform that brought together the Defence Intelligence Agency, National Intelligence Agency, Department of State Services, the Nigeria Police Force, and the Armed Forces to sharpen national threat assessment and improve strategic response coordination.

Following his retirement from active service, Fadewa took up a position as senior research fellow at the Nigerian Army Resource Centre in Abuja, where he continued to contribute to policy thinking on policing, civil-security cooperation, and national security reform.

He is also the author of a monograph titled “Policing and National Security in Nigeria”, widely cited for offering practical frameworks for civil-security collaboration.

Tinubu expressed confidence that the new appointment would deepen “coordination of homeland security initiatives, intelligence integration, and proactive risk management” and urged Fadewa to deploy his wealth of experience in advancing the administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

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