By Zainab Bakare
Nigeria has assumed the chairmanship of the African Union Peace and Security Council for May 2026, signaling a renewed push to address some of the continent’s most pressing security challenges.
Announcing the development, the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs Nigeria said the country will leverage its extensive experience on the Council to provide strategic direction and strengthen collective responses to instability across Africa.
In a statement issued by the Ministry’s spokesperson, Kimiebi Ebienfa, the federal government noted that Nigeria’s long-standing presence on the Council having served continuously since its establishment in 2004 positions it uniquely to offer institutional memory and effective leadership. Nigeria last held the chair in December 2022.
During its one-month tenure, Nigeria will steer deliberations on a mix of thematic and country-specific issues, with particular emphasis on the volatile West African and Sahel regions.
Central to its agenda is addressing the growing nexus between climate change and conflict, especially in the Lake Chad Basin and the wider Sahel belt.
Other high-level priorities include advancing strategies to combat transnational organised crime and reviewing the draft five-year AU Continental Counter-Terrorism Strategic Plan of Action. Nigeria is also expected to champion efforts toward the operationalisation of the African Standby Force seen as critical to rapid response interventions and deepen coordinated maritime security through a proposed Combined Maritime Task Force aimed at curbing piracy in the Gulf of Guinea.
The Peace and Security Council, a key organ of the African Union, comprises 15 member states elected based on regional representation, with mandates spanning conflict prevention, management, and resolution.
Current members 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 comes at a critical time for the continent, with rising security threats and shifting geopolitical dynamics demanding coordinated, decisive, and forward-looking leadership.
