President Bola Tinubu will depart Abuja on Sunday, October 12, for Rome, Italy, to attend the Aqaba Process Heads of State and Government Meeting, which will focus on addressing the growing security challenges in West Africa.
The high-level summit, which begins on October 14, will bring together Heads of State, senior intelligence and military officials from across Africa, as well as representatives of international and non-governmental organisations, to strengthen cooperation on counter-terrorism and regional stability.
According to Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President (Information & Strategy), the meeting will serve as a key platform for developing collaborative strategies to combat terrorism, organised crime, and violent extremism across the subregion.
Launched in 2015 by King Abdullah II of Jordan, the Aqaba Process is a counter-terrorism initiative co-chaired by Jordan and Italy. It aims to foster stronger coordination among partner nations in confronting emerging global and regional security threats.
This year’s discussions will examine the complex security landscape in West Africa, including the expansion of terrorist networks, the growing crime-terror nexus, and the overlap between insurgency in the Sahel and piracy in the Gulf of Guinea.
Participants will deliberate on ways to counter terrorism both on land and at sea, enhance intelligence sharing, and disrupt online radicalisation by targeting digital networks used for extremist propaganda and recruitment.
President Tinubu is also expected to hold bilateral meetings with other world leaders on the sidelines of the summit to explore deeper cooperation on peacebuilding, maritime security, and counter-terrorism efforts.
The President will be accompanied by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu; Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar; National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu; and the Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ambassador Mohammed Mohammed, along with other senior government officials.
