In April 2024 African leaders called for more regional collaboration in fighting terrorism at a high-level summit in Abuja, with Nigeria’s president blaming the global community for being responsible for the alarming rise in illegal mining, illicit funds flow and terrorism funding in the continent.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrTGFUotCAgThe High-Level African Counter-Terrorism sitting, with the theme ‘Building to Address the Evolving Threat of Terrorism in Africa,’ gathered diverse stakeholders, to deliberate on the root reasons for the security challenges faced by the region, seeking to look for African-led solutions, including creating a potential regional military force. “The epicentre of terrorism has moved from the Middle East and North Africa into sub-Saharan Africa concentrated largely in the Sahel,” UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed told the counter-terrorism summit.
Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu joined his companions Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo and Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe to demand more regional cooperation, intelligence sharing and labour to create a standby military force.
The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) also called for action to handle the causes of the security challenges in Africa. The national coordinator of CNG, Comrade Jamilu Aliyu Charanchi, expressed this in Abuja, during the High-Level African Counter-Terrorism conference, to examine the pressing need for regional cooperation and institution-building to effectively manage the evolving threat of terrorism in Africa.
Charanchi voiced the group’s conviction that the government has a profound understanding of the underlying factors contributing to the security issues, such as an ineffective justice system, poor land administration procedures, the presence of non-state armed groups, ungoverned spaces, permeable borders, and the proliferation of short arms and light weapons.
The group emphasised the challenges posed by a large youth population lacking in education and aptitude sets, as well as a governance approach that fails to meet the developmental needs of the people.
Charanchi stated, “The nation’s security challenges could best be improved as described by the NSA at the convocation ceremony of UDUS through multifaceted approaches, one that marries military, political and socio-economic strategies with robust cross-border cooperation, deep community engagement and collaboration among security sector organizations, federal and state governments.
“It is imperative to acknowledge that speeches alone cannot secure our region; we convene here not solely to express intentions; I appeal to each one of us here present that the time for decisive action has arrived; words unaccompanied by concrete actions are just air in motion; accountability must be the cornerstone for our joint effort; beyond this gathering, beyond this day, our call remains one: act, execute, and deliver on the commitment made.”
He stressed that words alone cannot provide security for the region and that responsibility should be the foundation of collective efforts.
