{
  "id": 10976480,
  "title": "Army chief seeks deeper regional defence partnerships",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/30/army-chief-seeks-deeper-regional-defence-partnerships",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-30T15:54:52.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Punch Nigeria",
    "slug": "punch-nigeria",
    "url": "https://punchng.com/army-chief-seeks-deeper-regional-defence-partnerships/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "The Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Waidi Shaibu, has called for deeper regional security cooperation and stronger defence partnerships among Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) member states. Shaibu emphasized the need for increased collaboration to tackle contemporary and emerging security threats such as terrorism, violent extremism, and transnational organized crime, which cannot be effectively addressed by individual countries. He urged military leaders to develop practical strategies for confronting these threats through military-to-military cooperation, regular dialogue, intelligence sharing, joint training and exercises, and the continuous review and harmonisation of military doctrines. Brigadier General Sheik Massaquoi, the Chief of Staff of the ECOWAS Standby Force, expressed gratitude for Nigeria's support and called for strengthening the ECOWAS Standby Force into a more proactive, interoperable, and responsive regional security capability.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Punch",
        "title": "Army chief seeks deeper regional defence partnerships",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/30/army-chief-seeks-deeper-regional-defence-partnerships-10978776",
        "published": "2026-09-30T16:06:52.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}