Uche Cecil Izuora
The Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Idi Abbas, has called for stronger regional maritime cooperation and urged more African militaries to participate in regional efforts to combat common security problems, just like the recently launched Combined Maritime Task Force–Gulf of Guinea (CMTF-GoG), stressing that broader regional participation would strengthen collective capacity to respond to Africa’s security challenges.
Vice Admiral Abbas made the call on Friday, 11 September 2026, when he received the Chief of Staff, ECOWAS Standby Force, Brigadier General Sheikh Sulaiman Massaquoi, who paid a courtesy visit to the Chief of the Naval Staff at Naval Headquarters, Abuja.
The CNS highlighted Nigeria’s growing contribution to regional security through practical maritime and strategic sealift support. He referenced the recent movement of Chinese-donated ECOWAS equipment destined for frontline countries, including Benin Republic and Sierra Leone, as an example of the importance of regional logistics and mobility in supporting collective security efforts. The equipment, donated by China to ECOWAS, includes non-lethal field-support items intended to strengthen operational and humanitarian capacity.
Vice Admiral Abbas also recalled the Nigerian Navy’s strategic sealift of military hardware to Guinea-Bissau in 2022, when NNS KADA transported equipment for the Nigerian contingent deployed under the ECOWAS Stabilisation Support Mission. The deployment demonstrated Nigeria’s ability to sealift maritime logistics in support of regional peace and security initiatives.
Against this background, the CNS advocated stronger synergy between the ECOWAS Standby Force and CMTF-GoG, noting that maritime security challenges increasingly straddle both land and sea, requiring shared capabilities, information, and coordinated responses. He encouraged more African states to join the CMTF-GoG, building a broader regional security architecture to address transnational maritime threats. The CNS also called for the strengthening of the ECOWAS Standby Force to ensure that it remains operationally ready and rapidly deployable against shared transnational threats, including terrorism and insurgency, and other forms of organised cross-border crime. He stressed that, as Africa’s security challenges become increasingly interconnected, no nation can confront them effectively in isolation. Accordingly, a coordinated regional response, anchored on shared intelligence, interoperable forces, joint operations, and sustained political commitment, represents the future of African security and the most effective means of protecting the continent’s people, resources, and development aspirations.
Brigadier General Massaquoi, who conveyed greetings from the President of the ECOWAS Commission, acknowledged Nigeria’s significant role in regional security and expressed appreciation for its continued support of ECOWAS initiatives. He also underscored the need to strengthen the maritime component of the regional security architecture.
The engagement reinforced the importance of Nigeria’s strategic leadership, regional interoperability, and broader African participation in building a more responsive maritime security framework for the Gulf of Guinea and the wider West African sub-region.