The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has warned that the region is facing increasingly complex security threats that transcend national borders, calling for stronger regional cooperation and collective action.

The Director of Political Affairs of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr Babatunde Tolu Afolabi, stated this at the pre-West African Peace and Security Dialogue (WAPSeD) 2027 strategy and review meeting in Abuja.

Afolabi, who was represented by Gnacabja Constant, said violent extremism, terrorism, political tensions, organised crime and humanitarian pressures were becoming increasingly interconnected across the region.

The meeting, organised by the Building Blocks for Peace Foundation, was themed, “From Dialogue to Action: Reflecting on WAPSeD 2025 Commitments and Setting the Agenda for WAPSeD 2027.”

He said sustainable peace could not be achieved by a single institution, government or sector, stressing the need for stronger partnerships among regional institutions, governments, civil society organisations, development partners and communities.

“If we want to achieve sustainable peace, we need to work on three Ps: people, prevention and partnership,” he said.

Afolabi said ECOWAS’ peace and security efforts must go beyond responding to crises to preventing them before they escalate.

“For ECOWAS, peace and security is not only about responding to crisis; it is also about preventing crisis, and ECOWAS has been doing this,” he added.

He acknowledged concerns over communication by regional institutions, saying ECOWAS was learning from its challenges and working to improve engagement with stakeholders.

The ECOWAS official also stressed that regional initiatives must translate into concrete action.

He said: “Although many people told us that we do not communicate, we are learning from our challenges and making sure that we communicate.

“We also recognise that the existence of initiatives is not enough. We need to act. We need to do a good analysis. We need to come with a good recommendation.
“But how do we process the recommendation for action? I think that is the main essence of us being here.”

In his keynote address, a professor of International Relations at Obafemi Awolowo University and Board Chair of the Building Blocks for Peace Foundation, Charles Ukeje, called for greater participation of women, young people, minorities and marginalised communities in peace and security processes.

Ukeje said communities directly affected by insecurity should have a voice in decisions concerning their lives.

He stated: “If civil society claims to represent communities, then communities must actually have a voice in the processes that affect them.

“We cannot speak about participation while excluding the people most directly affected by insecurity and poor governance.”

He also urged stakeholders to mobilise local resources and capacities rather than relying exclusively on external actors to address the region’s security challenges.

He said inclusion and the principle of leaving no one behind should remain central to efforts to build sustainable peace and security across West Africa.

The Executive Director of the Building Blocks for Peace Foundation, Rafiu Lawal, said the region’s security landscape was changing rapidly, with disinformation, information manipulation, drug trafficking and illicit economies emerging as significant challenges.

“The geography of insecurity is changing, the nature of insecurity is changing, the actors are also changing, and therefore the tools required to prevent and respond to insecurity must also change,” Lawal said.

He called for local solutions, stronger regional cooperation, inclusive governance and meaningful participation by governments, civil society, international actors and communities.

Lawal said WAPSeD was established in 2024 as a platform for stakeholders to examine emerging peace and security challenges in West Africa.

He noted that the 2024 and 2025 editions brought together policymakers, peacebuilders, civil society organisations, researchers, youths, women and other stakeholders to analyse regional challenges and develop practical approaches to conflict prevention and dispute resolution.

The Director-General of the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution, Dr Joseph Ochogwu, represented by his Personal Assistant, Olaniran Olusola, described the meeting as timely.

Ochogwu said West Africa continued to face economic downturns, poverty, illiteracy, human rights abuses, poor governance, terrorism, violent extremism and transnational organised crime.

“These challenges continue to threaten peace and stability, undermine livelihoods, exacerbate human crises, and impede socioeconomic development across the region,” he said.

He called for the translation of dialogue
into practical measures to address violent conflicts, insecurity and criminality.

The Secretary-General of the Society for Peace Studies and Practice, John Tor Tsuwa, meanwhile, attributed some emerging security gaps to the weakening of indigenous security structures.

Tsuwa said traditional rulers lacked sufficient legal backing to perform security-related functions in many communities.

He also challenged the description of some communities as “ungoverned spaces”, arguing that alternative systems of authority existed in some of the affected areas.

“What we have seen from our own angle is that those places are not ungoverned. They are governed, only that they are ungoverned by the state apparatus or the security architecture,” he said.

Tsuwa called for deeper research and collaboration among communities, governments and lawmakers to develop strategies for addressing emerging security threats.

He also raised concerns over displacement and the increasing interaction between displaced persons and host communities, particularly in parts of North-Central Nigeria and areas bordering northern Nigeria.

In his welcome remarks, the Team Lead of The Tattaaunawa Roundtable Initiative, Dr Prince Charles Dickson, challenged stakeholders to assess whether existing peace and security interventions were producing tangible results.

“We must be willing to ask whether our interventions are reaching the people who live closest to insecurity,” he said.

Dickson also questioned whether early-warning systems were translating into timely action and whether policies were producing improvements in human security.

He said communities should not merely be invited to endorse solutions already designed elsewhere, but should be meaningfully involved in developing responses to the security challenges affecting them