Tinubu Heads to Rome for Aqaba Process Summit on West Africa’s Security Challenges

President Bola Tinubu is set to depart Abuja on Sunday for Rome, Italy, where he will participate in the Aqaba Process Heads of State and Government Meeting, a high-level security summit aimed at tackling growing instability in West Africa.

The meeting, which opens on October 14, will gather Heads of State and Government, along with senior intelligence and military officials from several African nations, as well as representatives from intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations, to address the region’s evolving security challenges.

The Aqaba Process, launched in 2015 by King Abdullah II of Jordan, serves as a counter-terrorism initiative designed to strengthen international cooperation against extremism and transnational crime. The Rome session will be co-chaired by Jordan and the Italian Government.

According to a statement by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, discussions will centre on the expansion of terrorist networks, the growing crime–terror nexus, and the link between Sahel-based insurgencies and maritime piracy in the Gulf of Guinea.

“Participants will exchange assessments of the current security landscape in West Africa and foster collaboration between regional and international partners to address cross-border security challenges,” the statement noted.

It added that delegates will also “develop strategies to counter the terror threat on land and sea, coordinate efforts against online radicalisation, and disrupt digital networks used for terrorist propaganda and recruitment.”

President Tinubu is also expected to hold bilateral meetings with other world leaders on the sidelines of the summit to explore joint approaches to curbing insecurity across the subregion.

Accompanying the President are Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu–Ojukwu, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs; Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, Minister of Defence; Nuhu Ribadu, National Security Adviser; and Ambassador Mohammed Mohammed, Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), alongside other senior government officials.

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