Nigeria Urges AU To Build Home-Grown Financing For Peace, Security
Africa’s ability to secure lasting peace may depend as much on how it finances its security architecture as on its capacity to resolve conflicts, Nigeria has warned.
Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, made the case for stronger African ownership of peace and security financing at the 26th Extraordinary Session of the Executive Council of the African Union in Luanda, Angola, on Saturday.
Speaking on the theme, “Strengthening Mechanisms for Conflict Prevention and Resolution in Africa,” the minister urged AU member states to develop innovative and sustainable funding mechanisms to reduce the continent’s dependence on external assistance.
She noted that member states had contributed about $350.2 million to the AU Peace Fund, representing 87.5 per cent of its original $400 million capitalisation target, while the Fund’s balance had risen above $405 million.
According to her, about $39 million had already been disbursed for mediation, preventive diplomacy, peace support operations and other interventions, demonstrating the Fund’s growing importance to Africa’s security architecture.
Odumegwu-Ojukwu called on member states to honour their assessed contributions and make voluntary contributions where possible, describing such payments as investments in collective security and sovereignty.
She also advocated progressive capitalisation of the Peace Fund towards its $1 billion target and urged greater mobilisation of resources from African financial institutions, the private sector and strategic partners.
The minister further called for full implementation of the 0.2 per cent levy under the Kigali Financing Decision and proposed exploring innovative revenue streams, including voluntary provision of strategically located land by member states for development through private-sector and African multilateral financial institutions.
Such arrangements, she said, could generate annual royalties for the AU while encouraging investment and infrastructure development.
The minister stressed that African-led peace operations required predictable funding for personnel, logistics and equipment, warning that uncertain financing could weaken their effectiveness.
“External assistance should complement African ownership; it should not substitute for it,” she said, insisting that African resources should remain the foundation of the continent’s peace and security financing.
She reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to collective African efforts, saying a peaceful and secure continent remained essential to achieving the objectives of Agenda 2063.
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