The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has directed its commission to urgently release $2.85 million to each of five frontline member states to bolster efforts against terrorism and violent extremism.
The beneficiaries are Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, and Togo, all grappling with escalating security threats from spillover violence in the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin regions.
The decision was announced in the final communiqué of the 68th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, held in Abuja on Sunday, December 14, 2025.
Funds are to be drawn immediately from the bloc's Regional Security Fund, amid concerns over deteriorating security characterised by persistent attacks, kidnappings, and sabotage by terrorist groups, insurgents, and bandits.
ECOWAS noted that over six million people in the region have been displaced, triggering severe humanitarian crises.
The summit also condemned recent schoolchildren abductions in northern Nigeria and commended President Bola Tinubu for securing their safe release.
Leaders further instructed urgent steps to operationalise a regional counter-terrorism brigade, in line with proposals from ECOWAS ministers of finance and defence.
The bloc called on the international community via the African Union (AU) and UN Security Council to provide coordinated support to affected countries.
Additionally, ECOWAS urged sustained engagement with Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger (former members now in the Alliance of Sahel States) to enhance cross-border collaboration against shared threats.
The approvals underscore ECOWAS' shift toward proactive, unified responses to transnational insecurity plaguing West Africa.
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