By Paul Ejime
Nigeria reached out to the U.S. and Ghana for cooperation before the American military strikes against Jihadist terrorist groups in December 2025, – Ghana’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Samuel Ablakwa
Africa’s Sahel region, extending to West Africa, is regarded as the epicentre of global terrorism, with insecurity disrupting governance and leading to unnecessary loss of lives and humanitarian displacements.
The erstwhile multilateral frameworks, such as the G5 Sahel, the Accra Declaration on Terrorism and Unconstitutional Change of Government, and the Multinational Joint Task Force (MJTF), involving intelligence sharing and commitment to fight illicit financing of terrorism, have either stalled or are tottering.
To address these hydra-headed issues, Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar and his Ghanaian counterpart, Hon. Samuel Ablakwa, were special guests at a programme organised on Monday, 9th March, by Chatham House, London, UK’s prominent policy and research think tank, also known as the Royal Institute of International Affairs.
Under the theme: How can West Africa strengthen its collective security against violent extremism? , the programme was streamed online and featured a Q&A session. Researchers, serving and former diplomats, government officials and journalists were among the attendees.
On America’s military strikes against jihadists/terrorists in Nigeria on 25th December 2025, Minister Ablakwa disclosed that the Nigerian government “reached out to the U.S. and Ghana for cooperation,” before the operation, adding: “Ghana has no foreign military base, what is happening in the Middle East vindicates that position.”
The Minister explained that Ghana handled military/security collaboration on a “case-by-case basis,” prioritizing its sovereignty and national interest.
He outlined the country’s counterterrorism and security strategy, including the government’s “presence in all the country’s districts through the District Security Council (DISEC)” and a plan to establish a Warfare Centre at Tamale.
Minister Ablakwa described violent extremism and terrorism as serious threats to the international community, requiring global cooperation to tackle.
On the implications of a possible defeat of the Shiite Muslim-controlled Iran in the ongoing war, given the significant population of Shiite Muslims in some ECOWAS member States, he explained that Ghana prioritizes religious tolerance and inclusiveness over sect differentiation.
As a demonstration of this, he said the Chief Imam, as the head of all Muslims in Ghana, celebrated his 80th birthday anniversary in a Catholic Church, while Christians and members of other faiths treated Muslims as brothers and sisters.
Nigerian Minister Yusuf Tuggar began by describing the insecurity problem in the region as complex and warned against its “wrong framing,” adding: “it is wrong to categorise the problem in Nigeria as Christian genocide, because sometimes it is banditry and criminal acts” against adherents of all religions.
He said the three Alliance of Sahel States, AES – Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, pulled out of the 15 Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) by their junta leaders were still “integral to the regional security and anti-terrorism strategy.”
Amb. Tuggar also reiterated his earlier position that the U.S. military strikes on terrorist groups in Nigeria were a joint operation, while noting that America’s role in Nigeria remained “indirect and supportive, and not direct boots-on-ground.”
He explained that Nigeria and other ECOWAS member States have the capacity to manage conflicts as happened in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Minister Tuggar said Russia’s influence in West Africa, through the private military agency, Wagner, replaced by the state-run Africa Corps, “is not great”, although Moscow’s real intention “remains unclear.”
He said Nigeria was still collaborating with the AES countries, including Niger, adding that a state visit was being planned for the leader of Chad, a neighbouring Central African country to Nigeria.
Both foreign affairs ministers argued that the withdrawal of the AES countries has not weakened ECOWAS.
Hon. Ablakwa said the AES countries “seeking a reset of their relations with France should be solidarized with… we need them onboard, and those kinds of discussions need to be held.”
He also acknowledged that “corruption, collapse of states, climate change effects, inadequate grazing land, alienation of the grassroots and the absence of democratic dividends and dysfunctional social contract between government and the citizens,” fuelled discontentment in Africa.
The minister emphasised a return to the vision of Ghana’s independence leader, Kwame Nkrumah, on African unity, the dismantling of artificial boundaries and greater intra-African trade and cooperation to reduce tensions among the continent’s estimated 1.3 billion people.
While agreeing with Hon. Ablakwa on the need for government presence at the grassroots, Amb. Tuggar said that in Nigeria, the governance system was working at the Federal and State levels compared to the Local Government areas.
Independent analysts link insecurity in West Africa to poor governance, disaffection among neglected/alienated segments of society, a lack of public trust, corruption, and mismanagement of national resources, coupled with complicity, denial, and misguided policies by political leaders, compounded by ineffective regional collaboration and external interference.
The situation may not change, or could even worsen, in the region without an intentional recalibration of strategies to facilitate lasting solutions that prioritise the interests of the majority, rather than the current leaders’ laser focus on themselves, their families, and close associates in the privileged class.
Ejime is a Global Affairs Analyst and Consultant on Strategic Governance Communications
