Nigeria seeks stronger Sahel, Lake Chad ties

Nigeria has called for enhanced political, economic, and security collaboration with Sahel and Lake Chad Basin nations, proposing a development framework to tackle shared challenges. The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Sola Enikanolaiye, announced this during a two-day high-level meeting in Maiduguri, Borno State, attended by Nigerian ambassadors and diplomatic representatives from the region.

The meeting, themed "Strengthening Nigeria’s Engagement with the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin Countries: Towards Peace, Security and Sustainable Regional Development," aimed to develop practical strategies to address security, economic, and development concerns. Enikanolaiye emphasized that events in neighboring countries directly impact Nigeria's national security, economy, and diplomacy.

He highlighted the need for stronger economic ties, including trade, industrial growth, agriculture, and food security, to promote regional peace and stability. Key challenges in the Sahel, such as terrorism, organized crime, irregular migration, climate change, and geopolitical competition, necessitate collective responses. Enikanolaiye urged renewed engagement with the Alliance of Sahelian States (Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger) and proposed the creation of a Sahel Development Compact to shift the regional focus from crisis management to sustainable development.

The compact would address infrastructure, agriculture, trade, transport connectivity, energy, education, climate resilience, water management, humanitarian efforts, and human capital development. He stressed that sustainable peace requires inclusive economic growth, social justice, and opportunities for the youth. The minister also called for recharging the Lake Chad, crucial for regional security, environment, and livelihoods.

Participants were expected to produce the Maiduguri Roadmap, outlining political dialogue, security cooperation, economic integration, humanitarian collaboration, and people-to-people engagement.