Nigeria has called on the African Union (AU) to intensify efforts to combat illicit financial flows fueling terrorism and violent extremism across the continent, warning that access to illegal funds continues to strengthen terrorist groups.
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, made the call on Tuesday while addressing the 1354th Ministerial Meeting of the AU Peace and Security Council, held virtually. She identified illicit financing as a major factor sustaining terrorist activities, saying it enables the recruitment of young people, procurement of sophisticated weapons, and expansion of extremist operations across Africa.
The minister urged the AU Peace and Security Council to promote stronger international cooperation in preventing, tracing, recovering and returning proceeds of illicit financial flows from safe havens to their countries of origin.
Odumegwu-Ojukwu noted that terrorist groups had become more resilient, increasingly deploying commercially available technologies such as drones and exploiting kidnapping for ransom and illegal mining of precious minerals to finance their activities.
She condemned terrorism and violent extremism in all forms, expressing Nigeria’s solidarity with victims across the continent while commending the sacrifices of African armed forces engaged in counter-terrorism operations.
The minister warned that the growing threat of terrorism in West Africa had been used by military juntas to justify unconstitutional takeovers of democratically elected governments, stressing the need for African countries to translate existing counter-terrorism commitments into concrete action.
She specifically called for the implementation of resolutions adopted at the 2022 Malabo Extraordinary Summit on Counter-Terrorism and the 2024 High-Level African Counter-Terrorism Meeting held in Abuja.
Odumegwu-Ojukwu also cautioned against portraying Africa as the global epicentre of terrorism, saying such narratives could lead to the profiling and ill-treatment of innocent Africans at international airports and other destinations.
Highlighting Nigeria’s counter-terrorism efforts, she said the country had adopted a comprehensive strategy combining military operations with non-kinetic measures, including deradicalisation, rehabilitation and reintegration of repentant fighters, as well as investments in education, youth empowerment, critical infrastructure and community resilience.
She added that Nigeria was strengthening intelligence sharing, border security and regional cooperation through the ECOWAS Regional Counter-Terrorism Strategy and the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF), which she described as a continental model for regional security collaboration.
The minister also advocated enhanced intelligence sharing among AU member states, stronger action against terrorist financing networks, improved continental early warning systems, stronger cybersecurity, and the development of ethical guidelines for the use of artificial intelligence in preventing terrorism.
Odumegwu-Ojukwu further called on international partners to adopt zero tolerance for terrorism by preventing non-state actors from acquiring arms, drones, dual-use technologies and other sophisticated weapons, while taking decisive action against illicit arms trafficking that fuels terrorist attacks across Africa.
The meeting was chaired by Uganda’s Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, Haruna Kasolo, who currently chairs the AU Peace and Security Council for July 2026.
