President Bola Tinubu will depart Abuja on Sunday, October 12, for Rome, Italy, to participate in the Aqaba Process Heads of State and Government Meeting, which will focus on addressing the growing security crisis in West Africa.
According to a statement by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, the high-level meeting—scheduled to begin on October 14—will bring together Heads of State, senior intelligence and military officials from across Africa, as well as representatives of intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations.
The Aqaba Process, launched in 2015 by King Abdullah II of Jordan and co-chaired by the Italian government, is a global counter-terrorism initiative aimed at strengthening regional and international cooperation against violent extremism.
Discussions in Rome will centre on the complex security threats facing West Africa, including the spread of terrorist networks, the link between crime and terrorism, and the growing overlap between land-based insurgencies in the Sahel and maritime piracy in the Gulf of Guinea.
Participants are expected to share assessments of the region’s security landscape and devise strategies to counter terrorism both on land and at sea. The meeting will also explore ways to combat online radicalisation and disrupt digital platforms used for terrorist propaganda and recruitment.
On the sidelines of the summit, President Tinubu will hold bilateral talks with other world leaders to strengthen security cooperation and address emerging threats across the subregion.
He will be accompanied by key government officials, including the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu; Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar; National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu; and Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ambassador Mohammed Mohammed.
