The Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu participated at a two-day Consultative Forum on Strengthening the Functional Performance of the African Union Peace and Security Architecture, held at Muhammadu Buhari Conference Center, Abuja, where she delivered the opening remark. The Minister’s address set a sobering tone, outlining critical challenges to African peace and security while proposing concrete, action-oriented solutions.
Her Excellency situated the Forum within the framework of the African Union’s Decision 967 of February 2026, which mandates the AU Commission Chairperson to provide recommendations for strengthening the peace and security architecture by January 2027. She noted that the Forum built on previous efforts, such as the High-Level Panel of Eminent Africans in Nairobi, September 2025. She highlighted four key objectives of the Forum: mediation and preventive diplomacy, early warning and response, counter-terrorism, and peace support operations.
The Minister presented a stark assessment of the current security landscape, highlighting several critical issues, including:
- Proliferating threats which are becoming increasingly sophisticated, employing drones, leveraging illicit financial flows and collaborating with organized crime;
- Erosion of multilateralism where intense geo-strategic competition is causing States to retreat from established international norms, placing immense strain on the global order; and
- Architectural gaps, impacting multilateral institutions’ early warning systems, financing for peace operations as well as fragmented efforts at counter-terrorism initiatives.
To address these challenges, the Minister offered Nigeria’s perspectives and recommendations across the thematic areas:
Early Warning and Mediation: The Continental Early Warning System should provide the PSC with concise, decision-oriented briefs, establish a mediation coordination mechanism to clarify roles and prevent “forum-shopping”, create a vetted roster of deployable African mediators and technical experts and strengthen national peace infrastructures, as well as the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM).
Counter-Terrorism: Prioritize solutions to local grievances, youth unemployment, and building community resilience. Support rehabilitation and reintegration programmes to counter recruitment. Leverage the AU Counter-Terrorism Centre (AUCTC) as the continental focal point and reduce over-dependence on external partners, including private military companies.
Peace Support Operations and Financing: Urgently apply UN Security Council Resolution 2719 to secure predictable funding for AU-led operations. Operationalize the African Standby Force and its regional standby arrangements. Ensure the AU Peace Fund is not seen as a replacement for UN obligations to fund all conflicts on the continent.
In summary, Her Excellency made a strong call for a more resilient, self-reliant, and African-led peace and security architecture. She expressed optimism that the Forum would produce practical, implementable recommendations that Member States could readily embrace.
