The Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Idi Abbas, has called for stronger regional military and maritime cooperation among African countries to tackle growing transnational security threats.
Abbas made the call on Friday when he received the Chief of Staff, ECOWAS Standby Force, Brigadier General Sheikh Sulaiman Massaquoi, who paid a courtesy visit to the Chief of the Naval Staff at the Naval Headquarters in Abuja.
The Chief of the Naval Staff urged more African countries to participate in regional security initiatives, including the recently launched Combined Maritime Task Force–Gulf of Guinea, saying broader participation would strengthen the continent’s collective capacity to respond to common security challenges.
“As Africa’s security challenges become increasingly interconnected, no nation can confront them effectively in isolation.”
Abbas said a coordinated regional response anchored on shared intelligence, interoperable forces, joint operations and sustained political commitment was necessary to protect the continent’s people, resources and development aspirations.
He also advocated stronger synergy between the ECOWAS Standby Force and the Combined Maritime Task Force–Gulf of Guinea, noting that contemporary security threats increasingly cut across both land and maritime domains.
“Maritime security challenges increasingly straddle both land and sea, requiring shared capabilities, information and coordinated responses.”
The CNS also called for the strengthening of the ECOWAS Standby Force to ensure that it remained operationally ready and rapidly deployable against terrorism, insurgency and other forms of organised cross-border crime.
He highlighted Nigeria’s contributions to regional security, particularly its maritime logistics and strategic sealift capabilities in support of ECOWAS operations.
Abbas cited the recent transportation 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 in strengthening collective security.
The equipment donated by China to ECOWAS comprises non-lethal field-support items intended to enhance operational and humanitarian capacity.
The Naval Chief also recalled the Nigerian Navy’s strategic sealift of military hardware to Guinea-Bissau in 2022, when NNS KADA transported equipment for the Nigerian contingent deployed under the ECOWAS Stabilisation Support Mission.
According to him, the deployment demonstrated Nigeria’s capacity to provide maritime logistics support for regional peace and security operations.
Abbas further encouraged more African states to join the Combined Maritime Task Force–Gulf of Guinea, saying broader participation would help build a stronger regional security architecture capable of addressing transnational maritime threats.
Responding, Massaquoi conveyed greetings from the President of the ECOWAS Commission and acknowledged Nigeria’s significant contribution to regional security.
He expressed appreciation for Nigeria’s continued support for ECOWAS initiatives while underscoring the need to strengthen the maritime component of the regional security architecture.
“Nigeria’s continued support remains significant to the success of ECOWAS regional security initiatives.”
The engagement, according to the Nigerian Navy, reinforced the importance of Nigeria’s strategic leadership, regional interoperability and broader African participation in developing a more responsive maritime security framework for the Gulf of Guinea and the wider West African sub-region.
The statement was signed by the Director of Naval Information, Navy Captain Abiodun Folorunsho.
