The former Nigerian Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, has stated that over 1,000 insurgent groups operate within the African continent.
Gambari stated this in a goodwill message at the African Chiefs of Defence Staff Summit 2025 on Monday in Abuja with a theme: “Combating contemporary threats to regional peace and security in Africa: the role of strategic defence collaboration.”
“We have to first secure our countries before we can secure our regions and then the continent. Securing Nigeria has placed Nigeria at the forefront of securing the region and the continent. Over 1,000 insurgency groups are operating in Africa.
According to some research work done by the African Research Network for Regional and Local Governance Innovation, with headquarters in the Savannah Centre for Democracy and Development here in Nigeria, there are now over 1,000 insurgency groups in Africa, and the number keeps rising.
“The majority of our Regional Economic Commission is actually dealing with banditry and terrorism and other forms of insurgency.
“So the Regional Economic Commission, which was supposed to be primarily about economic integration, has to, of course, devote a lot of its attention to issues of dealing with banditry, terrorism, and insurgency,” he said.
Gambari called on African nations to first secure their various nations before securing the region and continent at large.
According to Gambari, African nations must strengthen their defence industries and own their technologies in an effort to address threats.
“There must be synergy in military cooperation, promotion of common training, promotion of common doctrinal concepts, sharing of intelligence, the interoperability of armaments, but also capacity building, particularly in air-lifting, all of which are essential.
“We must also upgrade and strengthen our defense industry and own our technologies to avoid control from external forces,” he said.
He further urged African nations to design and build their own security architecture that guarantees human security.
In his remarks, President of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Omar Alieu Touray, represented by ECOWAS commissioner for political affairs, peace and security, Ambassador Abdel-Fatau Musah, said the Sahel region accounted for 51 per cent of deaths in 2024.
He appealed to the United Nations to fund at least 75 per cent of Africa-led operations to counter terrorism.
Earlier in his welcome remarks, Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, stressed the need for collaborative efforts due to challenges bedeviling the continent that defied borders.
General Musa assured that the Nigerian Armed Forces were ready to work with their colleagues across borders to tame terrorism and other threats, and stressed the need for an Africa-led security architecture to secure its citizens.
According to CDS Musa, the enemy is within; hence, ”we must be the architect of our defence and security.”
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