Tinubu pushes for revival of regional standby force in West Africa

President Bola Tinubu has advocated the reactivation of a regional standby force as part of efforts to reinforce collective security across West Africa and the Sahel, while encouraging countries in the region to make use of Nigeria’s National Counter Terrorism Centre in Abuja as a central intelligence and operations hub.

The President’s position was contained 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, between January 29 and 30, 2026.

In a statement issued on Saturday in Abuja by the Special Assistant on Communications and New Media to the minister, Magnus Eze, Tinubu reiterated Nigeria’s firm commitment to peace, security and stability in the region, emphasising the importance of enhanced multilateral cooperation in responding to the deteriorating security conditions 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 explained that Nigeria has continued to track and disrupt terrorist activities through joint engagements 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.

READ ALSO:Nollywood actor arrested in alleged coup plot to overthrow Tinubu govt

The President recalled that in 2025, the National Counter Terrorism Centre entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the African Union on cooperative counterterrorism initiatives aimed at addressing terrorism and violent extremism across Africa.

“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 increasing exploitation of cyberspace by terrorist organisations to spread misinformation and disinformation, warning that such activities pose a serious threat to regional security and stability.

Referencing what he described as “momentous gains” recorded by Nigeria in cyber monitoring, surveillance and intelligence gathering through the National Cyber Security Centre in Abuja, the President urged other West African countries to leverage Nigeria’s existing infrastructure to build regional systems capable of countering 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,” he said.

The President noted that insecurity across vast areas of West Africa remains fluid, with growing casualties of violence, including women and children. He attributed the situation partly to the absence of a single counterterrorism focal point and overstretched defence formations, which he said have created 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.

Tinubu further warned of the possibility that drug cartels may be shifting their operations to weaker jurisdictions in West Africa, following intensified anti-narcotics efforts in South America, thereby increasing the likelihood of 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,” he said.

According to him, such alliances could involve exchanges of cash for logistics support and secured smuggling routes.

The President also identified political divisions within the region, including what he described as an emerging ECOWAS–AES divide, dependence on foreign assistance and the reluctance of some states to submit defence decisions to supranational authorities, as major impediments to effective counterterrorism collaboration.

“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 solutions, Tinubu called on countries to address underlying drivers of instability such as poverty, governance challenges, marginalisation and the over-militarisation of counterterrorism approaches.

He urged ECOWAS and AES member states to ease tensions and restore an inclusive framework built around shared security and economic interests.

Tinubu expressed confidence that discussions by intelligence chiefs and strategic stakeholders at the Accra conference would yield a durable framework for an inclusive regional counterterrorism strategy.