President Bola Tinubu has called for the reactivation of a regional standby force, leveraging Nigeria’s National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) in Abuja.
The force would serve as an intelligence and kinetic unit to enhance regional counter-terrorism.
Nigeria’s stance was delivered Saturday by Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Amb. Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu.
The statement followed a regional conference on security challenges and future risk trajectories in West Africa and the Sahel, held in Accra from Jan. 29 to Jan. 30.
Tinubu reaffirmed Nigeria’s “unwavering commitment to safeguarding peace, security and stability in West Africa and the Sahel”.
He stressed Nigeria’s preference for collaborative, multilateral approaches to address the worsening security crisis across the Sahel.
He said Nigeria disrupts terrorism through regional intelligence and security partnerships.
These include the Regional Intelligence Fusion Unit, the Liaison Fusion Unit, the Eastern African Fusion Unit, and the Committee of Intelligence and Security Services of Africa.
The President disclosed that the NCTC signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the African Union in 2025 on continent-wide counter-terrorism cooperation.
“The centre is well-positioned to support regional mechanisms and act as an intelligence hub,” Tinubu said.
He warned that terrorist use of cyberspace for misinformation remains a serious regional threat.
Tinubu urged neighbouring states to leverage Nigeria’s cybersecurity infrastructure, citing successes recorded by the National Cyber Security Centre in Abuja.
“Security cooperation is central to Nigeria’s interests and regional stability,” he said.
He said joint initiatives, intelligence sharing, and coordinated operations are vital to countering terrorism and organised crime. I organised crime in the region.
“We welcome partnerships that respect sovereignty, uphold international law and promote mutuaTinubu acknowledged continued volatility and rising casualties, including women and children, across West Africa. He cited weak defence and the lack of a unified counter-terrorism focal point as factors that create exploitable power vacuums. Filling exploitable power vacuums.
“These gaps have enabled Sahel-based terrorists to expand towards littoral states, including Nigeria, Benin, Togo and Ghana,” he said.
He warned that such developments allowed terrorists to forge corridors with organised criminal networks across porous regional borders.
Tinubu also expressed concern over the possible relocation of South American drug cartels to West Africa amid intensified UHe said this increases the risk of links between drug cartels and insurgent groups in the region. The President identified overreliance on foreign support, political divisions, and the ECOWAS–AES divide as major security challenges.
“To address misapprehensions, political differences must be separated from security cooperation,” Tinubu said.
He urged ECOWAS and AES states to tackle the root causes of instability, including poverty, governance deficits and marginalisation.
He concluded that easing tensions and creating an inclusive framework reflecting shared security and economic interests should be a regional goal.
