The Nigerian National Security Adviser, commonly referred to as the NSA,[2] is a senior official of the federal government of Nigeria, based at the Three Arms Zone in Abuja, FCT.

The NSA is supported by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), which includes executive staff drawn from intelligence, the armed forces, law enforcement and paramilitary units who primarily fulfil roles assigned them by the NSA at any given time in furtherance of the national security strategy of Nigeria.

[8] The National Security Organisation was established after the assassination of Murtala Muhammed with legal instrument Decree Number 27 of 1976 to co-ordinate internal security, foreign intelligence and counterintelligence activities; this was part of a larger reorganisation that saw the demobilisation of the Nigerian Armed Forces and the Nigerian Civil Service.

The Shagari administration maintained the NSO and appointed Bukar Shaib special adviser on national security, who was later succeeded in 1983 by Shehu Ahmad Said Galadanchi.

The politico-military situation of the early 1990s required the need for a central body for coordination, control and supervision of national security.