Nigeria’s security crisis tied to regional instability, says Tuggar

Yusuf Tuggar, Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, has warned that the country’s internal security crisis cannot be resolved without confronting the instability across West Africa, insisting that violent disruptions in neighbouring states inevitably spill into Nigeria.

Speaking in Abuja during a joint ECOWAS ministerial briefing on Thursday, Tuggar said Nigeria has both a responsibility and a strategic necessity to intervene when instability threatens nearby countries.

He cited the recent attempted coup in the Benin Republic as one example of a crisis that, if left unchecked, could have generated serious security consequences for Nigeria.

Read also: What to know as Nigeria pushes forward on military deployment to Benin Republic

According to him, insecurity within Nigeria mirrors the turbulence across the Sahel and the Lake Chad Basin, where terrorism, armed conflicts and unregulated movement of fighters and weapons have created a complex web of regional threats.

“Nigeria’s internal problems are inextricably linked to the external problems. So, we would not be doing ourselves any good if the Republic of Benin has a problem and we don’t help in tackling it, and tackling it decisively,” Tuggar said.

The minister stressed that many of the drivers of insecurity in Nigeria originate beyond the country’s borders.

He traced the roots of today’s violent extremism to the collapse of Libya in 2011, which triggered a massive flow of arms and mercenaries across the region.

“The security problem we’re facing today is tied to the dysfunctioning of Libya, the fall of the Gaddafi regime.

“It is tied also to the conflict in the Sahel and the fight against terrorism in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and beyond,” he explained.

Tuggar also challenged the frequent domestic framing of Nigeria’s security challenges as ethnic or religious conflicts.

Such interpretations, he argued, overlook the fact that these clashes are often symptoms of a wider and continuous chain of violence spreading through West Africa.

He said the situation deteriorated further following the military takeover in Niger Republic, which deepened uncertainty across the Sahel and complicated counter-terrorism cooperation.

The minister urged ECOWAS member states to strengthen collaboration and act swiftly when any country shows signs of democratic instability, warning that failure to do so would only worsen the security consequences for the entire region, especially Nigeria.

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