By Saminu Ibrahim
The Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Idi Abbas, has called for stronger regional maritime cooperation and greater participation of African countries in joint security initiatives to tackle growing transnational threats.
Abbas made the call on Friday when the Chief of Staff, ECOWAS Standby Force, Brigadier General Sheikh Sulaiman Massaquoi, paid a courtesy visit to him at the Naval Headquarters in Abuja.
The CNS cited the recently launched Combined Maritime Task Force–Gulf of Guinea (CMTF-GoG) as an example of the need for broader regional participation in efforts to address common security challenges.
He said stronger collaboration among African militaries would enhance collective capacity to respond to maritime insecurity, terrorism, insurgency and organised cross-border crime.
Abbas also highlighted Nigeria’s growing contribution to regional security, particularly through maritime logistics and strategic sealift support.
He referred to the recent movement of Chinese-donated ECOWAS equipment destined for frontline countries, including Benin Republic and Sierra Leone, as evidence of the importance of regional mobility and logistics to collective security operations.
The equipment, donated by China to ECOWAS, comprises non-lethal field-support items intended to strengthen operational and humanitarian capabilities.
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 Nigerian troops deployed under the ECOWAS Stabilisation Support Mission.
According to him, the deployment demonstrated Nigeria’s capacity to provide maritime logistics in support of regional peace and security initiatives.
Abbas advocated closer synergy between the ECOWAS Standby Force and the CMTF-GoG, noting that contemporary security challenges increasingly cut across land and maritime domains.
He stressed the need for shared intelligence, interoperable forces, joint operations and coordinated responses to effectively address transnational threats.
The CNS further urged more African countries to join the CMTF-GoG, saying broader participation would help build a stronger regional security architecture for the Gulf of Guinea and beyond.
He also called for the strengthening of the ECOWAS Standby Force to ensure its operational readiness and rapid deployment against terrorism, insurgency and other forms of organised cross-border crime.
Abbas said Africa’s increasingly interconnected security challenges could no longer be effectively addressed by individual countries acting alone.
He maintained that sustained regional cooperation and political commitment remained critical to protecting the continent’s people, resources and development aspirations.
Earlier, Massaquoi, who conveyed greetings from the President of the ECOWAS Commission, acknowledged Nigeria’s significant role in regional security and commended its continued support for ECOWAS initiatives.
He also stressed the need to strengthen the maritime component of the region’s security architecture.
The engagement underscored the importance of Nigeria’s strategic leadership and regional interoperability in developing a more responsive maritime security framework for the Gulf of Guinea and the wider West African sub-region.
