The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Waidi Shaibu, has called for deeper regional security cooperation and stronger defence partnerships among Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) members to better confront contemporary and emerging threats across the West African subregion.
Lieutenant General Shaibu made the appeal on Wednesday when Brigadier General Sheik Massaquoi, Chief of Staff of the ECOWAS Standby Force, led a delegation on a courtesy visit to Army Headquarters in Abuja.
The COAS said the increasingly complex, interconnected and transnational nature of current security threats — including terrorism, violent extremism and transnational organised crime — cannot be effectively addressed by individual nations acting alone. He urged military leaders in the region to pool professional expertise, operational experience and shared situational awareness to develop practical, collective responses.
Shaibu stressed the importance of sustained military-to-military cooperation through regular dialogue, intelligence sharing, joint training and exercises, and the continuous review and harmonisation of doctrines. He said such measures are essential to improving interoperability, operational readiness and the capacity of regional forces to plan, coordinate and respond collectively.
He also reaffirmed the Nigerian Army’s commitment to its regional security obligations and pledged continued support for initiatives aimed at strengthening ECOWAS’s security architecture, calling an effective regional framework critical to safeguarding peace, protecting civilians and creating the stability required for sustainable development.
Brigadier General Massaquoi thanked the Nigerian Army for the warm reception and acknowledged Nigeria’s longstanding contributions to peacekeeping and regional security. He urged that the ECOWAS Standby Force be strengthened into a more proactive, interoperable and responsive capability able to address evolving threats.
Massaquoi identified updated military doctrines, enhanced joint training and exercises, and stronger defence partnerships among member states as key steps to achieving that goal, and he solicited Nigeria’s continued support to enhance the operational effectiveness of the Standby Force in fulfilling its mandate for collective security across the subregion.
