President Bola Tinubu will leave Abuja on Sunday for Rome to attend the Aqaba Process Heads of State and Government Meeting, a high-level forum focused on West Africa’s deepening security challenges.
The visit was confirmed in a statement by Presidential Spokesperson, Mr Bayo Onanuga.
The summit, which begins on Tuesday, will draw African leaders, top intelligence chiefs, defence officials, and representatives from key international and non-governmental organisations.
The Aqaba Process, launched in 2015 by Jordan’s King Abdullah II, is a global counter-terrorism platform jointly co-chaired by Jordan and Italy. It aims to address emerging threats and improve collective responses to terrorism, especially across fragile regions.
West Africa’s Terror and Piracy Threats
Discussions in Rome will centre on the growing intersection between land-based terror groups operating in the Sahel and piracy networks spreading across the Gulf of Guinea.
Participants are expected to share fresh intelligence, assess recent terror patterns, and develop actionable plans for regional cooperation.
“The world can no longer afford to treat West Africa’s insecurity as a distant problem,” one senior European diplomat said ahead of the meeting.
The talks will also focus on building joint mechanisms to fight extremism on land and sea, and on countering the surge of online radicalisation. Efforts to disrupt the digital propaganda channels used by extremist recruiters are expected to dominate discussions.
Nigeria’s Role at the Summit
President Tinubu will hold bilateral meetings with several heads of state, seeking stronger intelligence-sharing frameworks and coordinated security operations across West Africa.
He will be accompanied by Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu; Minister of Defence, Badaru Abubakar; National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu; and Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency, Mohammed Mohammed, among other senior officials.
Analysts say Nigeria’s participation reflects a growing recognition that terrorism in the Sahel and piracy in the Gulf of Guinea are now intertwined threats demanding unified regional responses.
Could this summit be the beginning of a coordinated West African security front—or another round of diplomatic talk with little follow-through?
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