The 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.
Abbas made the call when he received the ECOWAS Standby Force Chief of Staff, Brig.-Gen. Sheikh Massaquoi, on a courtesy visit at the Naval Headquarters in Abuja on Friday.
The Director of Naval Information, Capt. Abiodun Folorunsho, disclosed this in a statement made available to journalists on Friday in Abuja.
The CNS urged 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).
He said broader regional participation would strengthen collective capacity to respond to Africa’s evolving security challenges.
Abbas highlighted Nigeria’s growing contribution to regional security through maritime operations and strategic sealift support.
He 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 the equipment included non-lethal field-support items intended to strengthen operational and humanitarian capacity.
Abbas also recalled the Nigerian Navy’s strategic sealift of military equipment to Guinea-Bissau in 2022.
He said 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.
He said such challenges required shared capabilities, intelligence and coordinated responses.
The CNS encouraged more African countries to join the CMTF-GoG to build a broader regional security architecture against transnational maritime threats.
He 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.
Abbas recommended a coordinated regional response anchored on shared intelligence, interoperable forces, joint operations and sustained political commitment.
He said such cooperation represented the future of African security and the most effective way to protect the continent’s people, resources and development aspirations.
Massaquoi 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.
