President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has called on African Defence Chiefs to abandon fragmented security responses and work towards a unified defence architecture capable of addressing the continent’s growing security crises.

Speaking at the maiden African Chiefs of Defence Staff Summit 2025 in Abuja yesterday, Tinubu represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima stressed that Africa’s challenges are too vast for any single nation to confront alone. He proposed the establishment of a permanent African Chiefs of Defence Staff Forum to institutionalize dialogue, foresight, and operational coordination across the continent.

“African defence institutions must speak with one voice and act with one purpose,” Tinubu said, describing the summit as a “village square of ideas” where the continent’s military leaders must unite at a time of unprecedented threats.

Deputy UN Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, hailed the summit as “the birth of a new era in African security cooperation,” urging proactive steps to counter terrorists’ exploitation of emerging technologies. Similarly, ECOWAS Commission President, Dr. Omar Alieu Touray represented by Ambassador Abdel-Fatau Musah warned: “No region in Africa is spared from the scourge of insecurity. Cooperation is not just desirable; it is existential.”

Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Christopher Musa, underscored the need to prioritise cyber defence, artificial intelligence, and indigenous military technology, warning that lasting security would remain elusive without these tools.

Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, former Chief of Staff to the late President Muhammadu Buhari, cited data from the African Research Network for Regional and Global Governance Innovation showing that over 1,000 insurgency groups are currently active in Africa. He stressed the need for synergy in military cooperation, doctrinal alignment, intelligence sharing, interoperability of armaments, and capacity building, particularly in airlifting, to operationalise the African Standby Force.

Meanwhile, the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) Coordinator, Maj.-Gen. Adamu Laka, cautioned that terrorists are increasingly exploiting digital platforms, encryption, drones, and artificial intelligence. Speaking at the CT TECH+ Initiative workshop in Abuja yesterday, he called for proactive measures to counter such threats.

UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Mohammed Malick Fall, said the workshop would strengthen Nigeria’s law enforcement capacity to responsibly and sustainably deploy new technologies against terrorism.