Terrorism: ECOWAS approves $11.4m for Nigeria, Benin, All member states

• $2.85m for each country

BY BONNY AMADI

To counter rising terrorism in the sub-Saharan Africa region, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has mobilised funds for its four member states.

The ECOWAS authority of heads of state and government has requested its commission to urgently make available a total of $11.4 million for all the four member states, amounting to $2,850,000 to each of five member states as part of the bloc’s counterterrorism efforts.

The beneficiary countries are Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, and Togo, all of which are facing varying security challenges.

In a communique issued after the 68th ordinary session of the ECOWAS heads of state and government held in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, on Sunday, the authority instructed that the donations be sourced from the regional security fund.

The authority also ordered urgent actions to operationalize the regional counterterrorism brigade in accordance with the funding mechanisms proposed by the ECOWAS ministers of finance and ministers of defence.

Authority also asked the commission to urgently convene meetings of the committee of chiefs of intelligence service and the committee of chiefs of defence staff to advance the activation of the brigade.

The bloc said it was concerned about the increasing deterioration of the security situation across the region, particularly in the Sahel and the Lake Chad Basin, characterised by continuing attacks, kidnapping and sabotage operations by terrorist armed groups, insurgents and bandits.

According to the ECOWAS authority of heads of state and government, six million people in the region have been affected by mass displacements and serious humanitarian crises.

The regional bloc also condemned the abductions of schoolchildren in northern Nigeria and commended President Bola Tinubu for securing their release.

ECOWAS urged the international community, through the African Union (AU) and the UN security council, to urgently respond to the needs of terrorism-affected countries in the region in a coherent and coordinated manner.

The authority urged member states and directed the ECOWAS commission to sustain their engagements with Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger for effective and strengthened collaboration to tackle the deteriorating security situation in the region.