The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Waidi Shaibu, has called for deeper regional security cooperation and stronger defence partnerships among ECOWAS member states to confront contemporary and emerging threats across West Africa.
Shaibu made the call on Wednesday, Sept 30, 2026, when Chief of Staff, ECOWAS Standby Force, Brig. Gen. Sheik Massaquoi, led a delegation on courtesy visit to Army Headquarters, Abuja.
He said increasingly complex, interconnected and transnational nature of security threats demands greater collaboration, stressing that terrorism, violent extremism, transnational organised crime and other cross-border threats cannot be effectively addressed by individual nations.
“West African countries are stronger when they work collectively towards securing the subregion,” he said.
Shaibu underscored need for military leaders to leverage collective professional expertise, operational experience and shared understanding to develop practical strategies and provide informed professional advice to political leaders.
He emphasized sustained military-to-military cooperation through regular dialogue, intelligence sharing, joint training and exercises, and continuous review and harmonisation of doctrines to improve interoperability and operational readiness.
He reaffirmed Nigerian Army’s commitment to regional security obligations and assured continued support for initiatives strengthening ECOWAS security architecture, saying effective regional framework remains critical to peace and sustainable development.
Earlier, Brig. Gen. Massaquoi thanked Nigerian Army and acknowledged Nigeria’s contributions to peacekeeping and defence cooperation in West Africa.
He stressed need to strengthen ECOWAS Standby Force into more proactive, interoperable and responsive capability, identifying updated doctrines, enhanced joint training and stronger defence partnerships as critical.
He solicited Nigeria’s continued support to enhance operational effectiveness of the Standby Force.
