Nigeria is seeking a broader diplomatic and economic reset with countries in the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin, with the Federal Government proposing a new development compact to complement regional security efforts.
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Sola Enikanolaiye, made the call on Saturday in Maiduguri, Borno State, where Nigerian ambassadors and diplomatic representatives from the Sahel and Lake Chad region gathered for a high-level retreat on regional cooperation.
The two-day meeting, themed “Strengthening Nigeria’s Engagement with the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin Countries: Towards Peace, Security and Sustainable Regional Development,” brings together diplomats, security agencies, regional institutions, development partners and other stakeholders.
Enikanolaiye said Maiduguri was deliberately chosen because of its position at the centre of Nigeria’s experience with the security and humanitarian challenges affecting the Lake Chad Basin.
He said instability in neighbouring countries could not be treated as a distant foreign-policy issue because developments across the region directly affect Nigeria’s security, economy and diplomatic interests.
“What happens in Niamey affects Maiduguri. What happens in N’Djamena influences Borno. Developments in Bamako, Ouagadougou, Nouakchott and Yaoundé have direct implications for Nigeria’s national security, economic wellbeing and regional diplomacy,” he said.
The minister said Nigeria’s response should therefore extend beyond military cooperation to trade, agriculture, industrialisation, infrastructure and food security.
“Countries that trade with one another do not fight one another,” Enikanolaiye said, stressing the importance of stronger commercial relationships across the region.
He identified terrorism and violent extremism, organised crime, irregular migration, climate change, environmental degradation, humanitarian emergencies and geopolitical competition as interconnected challenges requiring coordinated responses.
A major diplomatic message from the retreat was his call for Nigeria to “mend fences” with the Alliance of Sahel States, comprising Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.
The three countries have broken away from the traditional regional diplomatic framework, making relations between the AES and ECOWAS members an important issue for Nigeria’s foreign policy.
Enikanolaiye said Nigeria needed renewed political and diplomatic engagement with the three countries despite existing differences.
The minister also announced the proposed Sahel Development Compact, which he said would shift the regional conversation from crisis management towards long-term development.
The framework is expected to cover infrastructure, agriculture, trade, transport connectivity, energy, education, climate resilience, water management, humanitarian response and human-capital development.
Enikanolaiye also renewed Nigeria’s call for action on the restoration of Lake Chad, saying the shrinking water body had direct implications for security, livelihoods and environmental stability.
He said stakeholders should move beyond feasibility and environmental-impact debates and work towards mobilising the estimated $50bn required for the proposed replenishment project.
The minister stressed that sustainable peace could not be achieved through military operations alone, arguing that economic opportunity, social justice and youth empowerment must form part of the regional response.
He also called for renewed commitment to the Multinational Joint Task Force to strengthen the regional campaign against persistent security threats.
At the end of the retreat, participants are expected to produce a Maiduguri Roadmap for Nigeria’s Continued Engagement with the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin Countries, covering political dialogue, security cooperation, economic integration, humanitarian coordination and people-to-people relations.
The roadmap is expected to propose regular high-level visits, political consultations, Joint Commission meetings and sector-specific working groups to monitor implementation.
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the changing regional security environment and emergence of the Alliance of Sahel States made it necessary for Nigeria to rethink its diplomatic approach.
The retreat therefore places diplomacy, development and economic integration alongside security as Nigeria seeks to protect its interests while rebuilding relationships with neighbours at a time of major geopolitical change in West Africa.
