Nigeria’s Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Adm. Idi Abbas, has called for stronger regional maritime cooperation among African militaries to tackle common security challenges.
Receiving the ECOWAS Standby Force Chief of Staff, Brig.-Gen. Sheikh Massaquoi, who was on a courtesy visit at the Naval Headquarters in Abuja on Friday, Abbas called for more African militaries to participate in regional initiatives to combat common security threats, citing the recently launched Combined Maritime Task Force-Gulf of Guinea (CMTF-GoG).
According to the statement by the Director of Naval Information, Capt. Abiodun Folorunsho, in Abuja, Abbas stated that broader regional participation would strengthen collective capacity to respond to Africa’s evolving security challenges.
Highlighting Nigeria’s growing contribution to regional security through maritime operations and strategic sealift support, Abbas cited the recent movement of Chinese-donated ECOWAS equipment to frontline countries, including Benin Republic and Sierra Leone, as an example of the importance of regional logistics and mobility.
He said that the equipment included non-lethal field-support items intended to strengthen operational and humanitarian capacity.
Abbas recalled the Nigerian Navy’s strategic sealift of military equipment to Guinea-Bissau in 2022.
He disclosed that the Nigerian Navy Ship KADA transported the equipment for the Nigerian contingent deployed under the ECOWAS Stabilisation Support Mission.
“The deployment demonstrated Nigeria’s ability to sealift maritime logistics in support of regional peace and security initiatives,” he said.
He advocated stronger synergy between the ECOWAS Standby Force and the CMTF-GoG, noting that maritime security challenges increasingly straddled land and sea.
According to him, such challenges require shared capabilities, intelligence and coordinated responses.
He encouraged more African countries to join the CMTF-GoG to build a broader regional security architecture against transnational maritime threats.
Abbas also called for strengthening the ECOWAS Standby Force to ensure operational readiness and rapid deployment against terrorism, insurgency and organised cross-border crime.
“As Africa’s security challenges become increasingly interconnected, no nation can confront them effectively in isolation,” he said, adding that a coordinated regional response anchored on shared intelligence, interoperable forces, joint operations and sustained political commitment should be pursued.
Such cooperation, he noted, represents the future of African security and the most effective way to protect the continent’s people, resources and development aspirations.
Massaquoi, in his speech, conveyed greetings from the ECOWAS Commission and acknowledged Nigeria’s significant role in regional security.
He expressed appreciation for Nigeria’s continued support for ECOWAS initiatives and underscored the need to strengthen the maritime component of the regional security architecture.
The engagement reinforced the importance of Nigeria’s strategic leadership and regional interoperability in developing a responsive maritime security framework for the Gulf of Guinea and West Africa.
GIK/APA