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From Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari, has called for the urgent upscale of peace and security architecture in order to ensure peace and stability in the African region.
Buhari made the call during the Eight Summit of Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) in Tunis, Republic of Tunisia.
Buhari who was represented by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, said the conference offered Africans another opportunity to rub minds with brothers and sisters from Japan and also to share experiences on a number of common issues that affect both continents.
Buhari also said over the past few years, members witnessed a number of events that have affected the peace and security of various continents, in particular, Africa.
He added that the events included the climate change and global warming, which led to the shrinking of lakes and eaters, including the Lake Chad.
Buhari noted that rising water levels in some areas has resulted in displacement of whole communities from their natural abode, compounding as it were, the humanitarian crisis in the continent.
“The Global COVID-19 pandemic also exposed the vulnerability of our health and rapid response systems. And of course, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has weakened and continues to threaten World Food Security.
“As if all that were not enough, Africa is confronted with violent extremist and terrorist attacks in all the regions of the continent. This is further exacerbated by the rise of unconstitutional changes of governments in some parts of the continent. Thus, the development and growth of the African continent is increasingly being seriously challenged by insecurity. In Nigeria for instance, the activities of terrorists, bandits and kidnappers have led to the displacement of several communities, disrupting the productive activities of our people.
“Undoubtedly, peace and development are two sides of the same coin. Peace is needed to engender development and provide necessary infrastructural requirements for our countries. In other words, strengthening peace and stability is a prerequisite for development. It is in this regard, that I wish to use this opportunity to appreciate the efforts of the Japanese and other partners in supporting ongoing efforts aimed at improving maritime and border security.
“Africa needs to pave the way for lasting peace and stability in the entire continent. To achieve this, there is an urgent need to upscale our peace and security architecture more than ever. The African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) needs all the support it can attract from our development partners, including Japan,” Buhari said.
Buhari further said that the various security mechanisms supported by the African Union such as the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF), the G5 Sahel and the African Standby Force, all needed to be recalibrated to meet the current objective of definitively eliminating violent extremism, terrorism and banditry from the continent.
“It is our desire that this 8th TICAD summit will rise to the occasion by expanding the security cooperation and operations between Africa and Japan, within the framework of the New Approach for Peace and Stability in Africa (NAPSA), and for Africa to benefit from the use of Japanese technology in the fight against insurgencies on the continent.
“Nigeria remains grateful to the Japanese Government for the support it has continued to extend to us in different areas of our partnership especially through the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Indeed, TICAD has continued to provide a constructive platform for strategic partnership between Africa and Japan for development cooperation,” Buhari stated.
