By Faith Anisiobi, The Sight News
Nigeria has called on African countries to intensify efforts to disrupt illicit financial flows that fuel terrorism and violent extremism across the continent, warning that terrorist groups continue to exploit illegal funding sources to recruit fighters and acquire sophisticated weapons.
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, made the call on Tuesday during the 1354th Ministerial Meeting of the African Union Peace and Security Council (PSC), held virtually.
The minister identified illicit financial flows as one of the greatest obstacles to defeating terrorism in Africa, urging the PSC to promote stronger international cooperation in preventing, tracing, recovering and repatriating proceeds of illicit funds to their countries of origin.
She noted that terrorist groups were becoming increasingly resilient to conventional military operations, leveraging commercially available technologies such as drones and digital platforms, while sustaining their activities through kidnapping for ransom and illegal mining of precious minerals.
Odumegwu-Ojukwu said Nigeria strongly condemns terrorism and violent extremism in all forms and expressed solidarity with victims across the continent, while commending African armed forces for their sacrifices in confronting terrorist groups.
She also warned that the growing insecurity in parts of West Africa had been used as a justification for unconstitutional military takeovers, stressing that the African Union must take decisive action to restrict the operational freedom of jihadist groups.
The minister urged African leaders to translate into action the commitments made at the 2022 Malabo Extraordinary Summit on Counter-Terrorism and the High-Level African Counter-Terrorism Meeting held in Abuja in 2024.
She cautioned against portraying Africa as the global epicentre of terrorism, saying such narratives could lead to the unfair profiling and mistreatment of innocent Africans at international airports and other destinations.
Highlighting Nigeria’s counter-terrorism efforts, Odumegwu-Ojukwu said the country has adopted a comprehensive strategy combining military operations with non-kinetic measures, including de-radicalization, rehabilitation and reintegration of former combatants, youth empowerment, education, infrastructure development and community resilience programmes.
She said Nigeria has also intensified efforts to combat terrorist financing while strengthening collaboration with neighbouring countries through the ECOWAS Regional Counter-Terrorism Strategy, enhanced intelligence sharing, border security and coordinated responses to security threats.
According to her, Nigeria’s support for the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) has made it a model for regional counter-terrorism cooperation in Africa.
The minister further endorsed stronger intelligence sharing among African states, disruption of terrorist financing networks, enhancement of the Continental Early Warning System, improved cybersecurity, and the development of continental guidelines for the responsible use of artificial intelligence in combating terrorism and violent extremism.
She also called on international partners to adopt a zero-tolerance stance against terrorism by preventing non-state actors from accessing arms, drones, dual-use technologies and other sophisticated weapons, while taking firm action against the illicit trade that fuels terrorist activities on the continent.
The meeting was chaired by Uganda’s Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, Haruna Kasolo, who serves as Chairperson of the African Union Peace and Security Council for July 2026.
