President Bola Tinubu has urged the reactivation of a regional standby force to bolster collective security efforts in West Africa and the Sahel, emphasizing the strategic role of Nigeria’s National Counter Terrorism Centre in Abuja as an intelligence and operations hub.
The President’s position was conveyed in Nigeria’s official statement delivered by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, at the Conference on Security Situation, Operational Challenges and Future Risk Trajectories in West Africa and the Sahel, held in Accra, Ghana, from January 29 to 30, 2026.
According to a statement issued on Saturday in Abuja by Magnus Eze, Special Assistant on Communications and New Media to the minister, Tinubu reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to maintaining peace, security, and stability in the region, highlighting the need for enhanced multilateral cooperation to address worsening security challenges in the Sahel.
“Nigeria is favourably disposed to more collaborative and multilateral approaches aimed at dealing with the security crisis in the Sahel,” Tinubu said.
He noted that Nigeria has continued to monitor and disrupt terrorist activities through joint efforts with regional and continental institutions, including the Regional Intelligence Fusion Unit, Liaison Fusion Unit, Eastern African Fusion Unit, and the Committee of Intelligence and Security Services of Africa.
Recalling a 2025 Memorandum of Understanding signed between the NCTC and the African Union on joint counterterrorism efforts, Tinubu stressed that the centre is well-positioned to support regional mechanisms and act as a coordinating hub for intelligence in unified counterterrorism operations.
“The centre is therefore well positioned to support regional mechanisms and serve as an intelligence coordinating hub in our unified counter-terrorism efforts,” he added.
Tinubu also raised concerns over the growing use of cyberspace by terrorist groups for misinformation campaigns, which he said undermines regional security and stability. Highlighting Nigeria’s advancements in cyber monitoring and intelligence gathering through the National Cyber Security Centre in Abuja, he encouraged West African states to leverage Nigeria’s infrastructure to develop regional mechanisms against cyber-enabled threats.
“Security cooperation remains central to Nigeria’s national interest and regional stability. Through joint initiatives, intelligence sharing and coordinated operations, Nigeria seeks to enhance our collective ability to combat terrorism, transnational organised crime and other forms of insecurity that undermine our individual and collective development,” the President said.
He warned that security in parts of West Africa remains fragile, with rising casualties, particularly among women and children. Tinubu identified the lack of a single counterterrorism focal point and thinly spread defence formations as factors creating power vacuums exploited by militant groups.
“These power vacuums have afforded Sahel-based terrorists the freedom to expand their activities from the central Sahel to littoral West Africa, with Nigeria, Benin, Togo and Ghana among those bearing the brunt,” he said.
The President further cautioned that intensified anti-narcotics campaigns in South America may push drug cartels to relocate operations to weaker jurisdictions in West Africa, potentially enabling alliances between traffickers and insurgent groups.
“This development is worrying, as it could bring financially solvent drug cartels into closer proximity with insurgents operating in the region,” Tinubu said, noting that such groups could exchange cash for logistics and secure smuggling routes.
Highlighting political divisions in the region, including an emerging ECOWAS–AES divide, overreliance on foreign support, and reluctance by states to subordinate defence decisions to supranational authorities, Tinubu described these factors as major obstacles to effective counterterrorism cooperation.
“To address longstanding and emerging misapprehensions among member states, there is a need to separate political proclivities from security collaborative initiatives, to pave the way for sustainable security partnerships,” he said.
Beyond military responses, the President called for addressing root causes of instability, including poverty, governance deficits, marginalisation, and over-militarisation of counterterrorism strategies. He urged ECOWAS and AES states to de-escalate tensions and re-establish an inclusive framework reflecting shared security and economic interests.
Tinubu expressed optimism that the discussions of intelligence chiefs and strategic stakeholders at the Accra conference would provide a sustainable framework for an inclusive regional counterterrorism strategy.
