By Bavoriat Clara
In a world where governments spend a record $2.7 trillion on militaries yet fall short by $4 trillion each year on basic development needs, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General, Ms. Amina J. Mohammed, has demanded urgent reforms to global financing to give Africa a fair chance at peace and stability.
Speaking in Abuja at a high-level summit of African Chiefs of Defence Staff, Ms. Mohammed warned that the imbalance between military spending and development investment was unsustainable and posed a grave risk to global security.
> “What kind of spending truly delivers the peace you are willing to fight to protect?” she asked, stressing that without investment in schools, clinics, and jobs, conflicts will continue to spread rather than shrink.
The summit, hosted under Nigeria’s leadership, was declared open by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, who was represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima.
Also present were the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Gwabin Musa, the Minister of State for Defence, renowned scholars including Professor Ibrahim Gambari and Professor Patrice Lumumba, Dr. Mohammed Chambas, as well as women security experts and senior African military leaders.
Mohammed argued that Africa needs a fairer financial architecture including debt relief and affordable credit to tackle root causes of insecurity such as poverty, climate shocks, and lack of opportunity. She stressed that without these reforms, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Africa’s Agenda 2063 would remain out of reach.
Beyond funding, the UN Deputy Chief painted a sobering picture of Africa’s security landscape, citing the spread of extremist groups, the devastating impact of climate change, and the rise of new threats from cyber warfare and artificial intelligence misuse.
She revealed that attacks in West Africa’s coastal states have surged by 250 percent in two years, while more than 14,000 schools across the Sahel have been shut due to conflict, putting millions of children at risk of radicalisation.
> “When young people see no path to education or justice, extremist propaganda finds an audience. We risk losing an entire generation,” she warned.
On climate change, she described environmental degradation as a “clear and present danger to peace,” recalling that the shrinking of Lake Chad alone has displaced over three million people.
She added that food insecurity, displacement, and resource competition were fueling instability across fragile states.
Turning to technology, Ms. Mohammed said cyberspace has become a new battleground. While artificial intelligence can help predict unrest, detect landmines, and address food insecurity, she warned it could also enable cyberattacks, surveillance abuses, and autonomous warfare with severe risks to human rights.
To counter these threats, she identified three urgent priorities: pooling defence resources, strengthening intelligence and innovation, and harnessing Africa’s youthful population alongside private sector partnerships. Above all, she called for women to be recognized as equal partners in peacebuilding.
> “On the day after war, women are the ones who heal communities and rebuild trust. Without women, peace will fail,” she affirmed.
She praised Africa’s contributions to global peacekeeping, from ECOMOG’s interventions in Liberia to Rwanda’s role as one of the largest UN peacekeeping contributors. Yet she lamented that political deadlocks at the UN Security Council, underfunded missions, and competing foreign interests continue to undermine African-led solutions.
Concluding with a call for unity, Ms. Mohammed reminded leaders that silencing the guns is not only about laying down weapons but also about investing in people.
> “I dream of the realization of the unity of Africa whereby its leaders combine in their efforts to solve the problems of this continent. That dream calls on us to act with courage, trust, and shared purpose to safeguard the future of Africa.”
Also, Professor Ibrahim Agboola Gambari, former Minister of External Affairs and Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, as well as former Chief of Staff to the President, in his goodwill message described the summit as a “timely, special and historic gathering” that reflects the long-standing vision of African unity and collective security, first articulated by late Ghanaian President Kwame Nkrumah in the 1950s.
He noted that while the dream of an African High Command has remained elusive due to internal security challenges faced by individual states, the Abuja summit marks a significant step toward realizing continental defence collaboration.
“Securing Nigeria has made it possible for the country to be at the forefront of securing West Africa. Through ECOWAS and its defence arm, ECOMOG, the Nigerian Armed Forces have played a pivotal role in stabilizing the region,” Gambari said. He commended Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, and other service chiefs for their leadership and foresight in convening the summit.
Themed “Combating Contemporary Threats to Regional Peace and Security in Africa: The Role of Strategic Defence Collaboration,” the summit spotlighted the urgent need for synergy in Africa’s defence posture.
Gambari highlighted that despite frameworks such as the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) and the African Standby Force, insecurity persists across the continent, with conflicts in Sudan, South Sudan, the Sahel, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and parts of Southern Africa.
According to research by the African Research Network for Regional and Global Governance Innovation, there are now over 1,000 insurgency groups active across Africa, further stretching the capacities of regional and sub-regional bodies.
Gambari stressed that Africa’s collective security can only be achieved through intelligence-sharing, interoperability of armaments, common training, doctrinal harmonization, and capacity building especially in areas such as airlift and defence technology. He also emphasized the need for Africa to develop its own defence industries and reduce reliance on external powers.
“This historic summit must not be another talk shop,” he warned. “We must strive for concrete, realistic solutions that guarantee the sovereignty of our states and the security of our people in all its dimensions.”
The Abuja Defence Summit is the first of its kind, coming over six decades after the idea of a continental defence mechanism was mooted. Participants resolved to pursue deeper cooperation and practical steps towards operationalizing the African Standby Force as part of the continent’s long-term vision under the African Union’s Agenda 2063.
admin