Nigeria is stepping up military cooperation with Benin Republic and Niger as authorities respond to the growing threat posed by jihadist groups advancing from the Sahel into the country’s northwest, Defence Minister Christopher Musa has said.
Speaking in an interview with AFP on Thursday, the retired general explained that the Federal Government is strengthening cross-border security efforts to prevent armed groups from exploiting weak border areas.
Nigeria has been fighting a homegrown insurgency since 2009, but the security landscape has evolved in recent years with the increasing activities of regional extremist groups. The United States has carried out strikes against Islamic State Sahel Province targets in northwest Nigeria, while security analysts have also raised concerns about the presence of the Al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM).
Musa disclosed that Nigeria is creating a new military sector covering the borders shared with Benin Republic and Niger to improve joint operations.
“We’re opening another sector to cover the border between Nigeria, Benin Republic and Niger,” retired general Christopher Musa told AFP in an interview at his office in the Nigerian capital, referring to a tri-country military collaboration.
“From Burkina Faso, JNIM is trying to take advantage of coming through Benin Republic into Nigeria. So we’re establishing that sector… so that it gives us freedom to operate within those general areas,” including across the border, he said.
The defence minister described the initiative as a work in progress and did not provide a timeline for its completion.
He also revealed plans to visit Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger in the coming months. The three countries are currently governed by military administrations that have withdrawn from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to form the Alliance of Sahel States.
Jihad Threat Spurs Regional Military Cooperation
Despite political differences between the regional bloc and the three countries, Musa stressed that military cooperation has remained intact.
“Politically, there is always that issue, but militarily, we have been able to go beyond that,” Musa said of relations with Niger, adding that authorities in Niamey know “how important it is not to allow any gaps to exist”.
“We need to close ranks so that we can defeat these enemies,” Musa said of the insurgencies roiling the region.
The minister also addressed reports of Beninese troops operating inside Nigerian territory after videos of such operations circulated online in recent weeks. According to him, those activities were carried out under existing agreements that have long permitted cross-border collaboration.
Security sources had earlier informed AFP that Nigerian forces have also worked alongside anti-jihadist militias from Benin during operations conducted within Nigerian territory.
Musa noted that while the insurgency has historically been concentrated in the northeast, emerging threats suggest that extremist groups are attempting to spread into other parts of the country. He cited the rare school kidnapping recorded in the southwest in May, which authorities attributed to jihadists.
“We are trying to stop them from getting deep into the south,” Musa told AFP, noting that jihadist activity has often overlapped with unguarded forest reserves and illegal mining operations.
“With illegal mining, if you notice, most of the areas where they are putting much pressure, there are mineral resources around that area, so they use that to leverage and to build up,” he said.
Looking ahead to Nigeria’s presidential election scheduled for January, Musa acknowledged concerns that insecurity could prevent some citizens, particularly those in the conflict-affected northeast, from voting.
“We know that’s a possibility,” Musa told AFP. “What we’re trying to do is to ensure that that doesn’t happen.”
“Nigerians are willing to vote as long as the locations are safe,” he said.
AFP
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