Nigeria has assumed the chairmanship of the African Union Peace and Security Council for May 2026, with a commitment to driving high-level discussions on peace, security, and stability across the African continent.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the development in a statement issued on Friday in Abuja, noting that Nigeria’s leadership role comes at a critical time for Africa’s security architecture.
According to the statement signed by the Ministry’s spokesperson, Kimiebi Imomotimi Ebienfa, Nigeria last chaired the Council in December 2022 and remains the only African Union member state to have maintained continuous membership on the body since its establishment in 2004.
The Ministry said this long-standing involvement places Nigeria in a strategic position to provide institutional memory and leadership experience in guiding the Council’s deliberations.
During its chairmanship, Nigeria will preside over discussions on key thematic and country-specific issues affecting the continent, particularly the West African and Sahel regions. These include the impact of climate change on the security situation in the Lake Chad Basin and the wider Sahel, as well as coordinated African strategies to combat transnational organised crime.
Other priority areas on the agenda include the draft five-year African Union continental counter-terrorism strategic plan, the operationalisation of the African Standby Force, and enhanced maritime security cooperation to address piracy in the Gulf of Guinea through the Combined Maritime Task Force.
The African Union Peace and Security Council is composed of 15 member states elected by the AU Executive Council and endorsed by the Assembly, serving staggered two- or three-year terms to ensure regional balance and continuity.
Current members of the Council include Nigeria, Benin, Gabon, Algeria, Lesotho, Morocco, Somalia, South Africa, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Ethiopia, Cameroon, and Eswatini.
Nigeria’s chairmanship is expected to reinforce continental cooperation and advance collective responses to Africa’s evolving peace and security challenges throughout the month of May.
