President Bola Tinubu has called for the reactivation of a regional standby force to strengthen collective security efforts in West Africa and the Sahel, urging countries in the region to leverage Nigeria’s National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) in Abuja as an intelligence and operations hub.
President Tinubu’s position was conveyed in Nigeria’s official statement delivered by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, 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 29 to 30 January 2026.
According to a statement on Saturday in Abuja by the Special Assistant on Communications and New Media to the minister, Magnus Eze, the President reaffirmed Nigeria’s unwavering commitment to safeguarding peace, security and stability in the region, stressing the need for stronger multilateral cooperation to address the worsening security situation in the Sahel.
‘Nigeria is favourably disposed to more collaborative and multilateral approaches aimed at dealing with the security crisis in the Sahel’, President Tinubu said.
He noted that Nigeria should continue 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.
He recalled that in 2025, the NCTC signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the African Union on collaborative counterterrorism efforts to combat terrorism and violent extremism across the continent.
‘The centre is therefore well positioned to support regional mechanisms and serve as an intelligence coordinating hub in our unified counter-terrorism efforts’, the president added.
President Tinubu, also warned about the growing use of cyberspace by terrorist groups for misinformation and disinformation campaigns, which he said undermines security and stability in the region.
Following what he described as ‘momentous gains’ by Nigeria in cyber monitoring, surveillance and intelligence gathering through the National Cyber Security Centre in Abuja, President Tinubu urged other West African states to leverage Nigeria’s infrastructure to establish regional mechanisms to counter 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.
President Tinubu said the security situation in large parts of West Africa remains volatile, with rising casualties of violence, including among women and children.
He identified the absence of a single counterterrorism focal point and thinly spread defence formations as key factors creating power vacuums that militant groups have exploited.
‘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.
He called on ECOWAS and AES states to de-escalate tensions and re-establish an all-inclusive framework that would reflect shared security and economic interests.
