Tinubu Pushes Regional Standby Force As Terror Threats Spread Across West Africa
As terrorism mutates and spills from the Sahel into coastal West Africa, Nigeria is calling for a united regional response anchored on intelligence, cooperation and shared responsibility.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has urged West African leaders to reactivate the regional standby force and strengthen collaboration between ECOWAS and the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) to counter growing security threats.
Nigeria’s position was conveyed in an official statement delivered by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, at a high-level security conference in Accra, Ghana.
Tinubu stressed that Nigeria remains firmly committed to peace and stability in West Africa and the Sahel, advocating a more coordinated, multilateral approach to tackling terrorism.
He proposed leveraging the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) in Abuja as a regional intelligence and operations hub, noting its existing partnerships with African and regional security bodies.
The President warned that power vacuums, porous borders and the absence of a unified counter-terrorism focal point have enabled extremist groups to expand southwards, with Nigeria, Benin, Togo and Ghana increasingly affected.
He also raised concerns about the possible relocation of international drug cartels to West Africa, creating dangerous alliances between criminal networks and insurgents.
Beyond military responses, Tinubu cautioned against overreliance on foreign support and excessive militarisation, urging regional governments to confront root causes of instability such as poverty, marginalisation and governance deficits.
He called on ECOWAS and AES states to de-escalate political tensions and rebuild an inclusive security framework that prioritises shared interests over divisions, expressing optimism that ongoing regional intelligence discussions would yield a sustainable counter-terrorism strategy.
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