The Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) says Nigeria and the United States of America are committed to lead a global coalition against ISIS and other terrorist groups in the world.
A statement by ONSA on Saturday in Abuja, disclosed that the decision was reached during a virtual meeting of the 82-member global coalition drawn from Africa, America, Asia, Europe and the Middle East on Tuesday.
ONSA said the virtual meeting which was co-chaired by the coordinators of the National Counter Terrorism of Nigeria and U.S. also had the Africa Union, European Union, ECOWAS and G5 Sahel represented among other international and regional organisations.
The Nigeria delegation led by the National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno, was represented by the Coordinator of the Nigeria Counter-Terrorism Centre, Yaminu Musa.
He noted that the challenges of global terrorism had negatively impacted on the economy, polity and livelihoods of people as apparent in the Sahel, Lake Chad Basin and parts of North-eastern Nigeria.
According to ONSA, the meeting deliberated on key issues including sessions on understanding and countering the ISIS threat.
“The session, moderated by U.S. Special Envoy for the Sahel, Ambassador J. Peter Pham had panellists from Global Coalition members Cameroon, Chad, Guinea, Niger, and co-host Nigeria providing key perspectives on evolution of ISIS affiliates and their troubling activities in West Africa.
“The panellists also provided useful ways the Global Coalition could enhance efforts to curb the expanding influence of ISIS in the West Africa and the Sahel.
“Discussions also centred on lessons learnt from the fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria and reviewing of potential lines of efforts, including the use of battlefield evidence and border security measures and how these lessons and lines of efforts could be applied in West Africa and the Sahel,” it stated.
