The worsening security challenge in the Sahel region and Nigeria has been attributed to North Atlantic Treaty Organisation’s military action in Libya in 2011.
This is as countries within the Sahel region have been enjoined to fully identify with the Global Security Initiative put forward by the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping.
The call was made at a one-day dialogue on China’s Global Security Initiative (GSI) and its implications for the security in the Sahel and Nigeria of West Africa Sub-region, organised by the Centre for China Studies.
The dialogue brought together a cream of scholars, security experts, diplomats, newspaper columnists and journalists.
According to a communique issued at the end of the dialogue, it was agreed that the insecurity has taken an enormous toll on livelihood, obstructing meaningful economic activities like farming, fishing and other productive endeavours.
On way out of the security situation in Nigeria and the Sahel, the dialogue urged the region to adopt the principle of collective and indivisible security framework, a Global Security Initiative (GSI) proposed by the President of China, Xi Jinjing, saying that “it is vital to conflict prevention and could boost early warning system”.
Besides, the dialogue also urged Nigeria and the Sahel region to build a framework of collective and indivisible security architecture within the sub-region and engage substantially with relevant actors and stakeholders in generating consensus on conflict prevention and management.
“That China should endeavour to mainstream its global initiatives on security and development to the multilateral framework of the United Nations system in an effort to boost collective security and mainstream it to the national security priority of member states and other relevant actors in the international system.
Participants expressed appreciation to the Centre for China Studies for hosting the dialogue and also called for more support for the centre to enable it deepens its research on important issues.