Accra to host meeting of Ecowas intelligence chiefs next week

Intelligence chiefs from across the West African sub-region are expected to meet next week in Accra to discuss ways to eliminate terrorism in the region.

This was disclosed by President John Dramani Mahama, who also doubles as the Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) on Thursday, May 8.

He was interacting with journalists after a meeting with Nigeria President Goodluck Jonathan on the insurgence of militant group Boko Haram in the oil-rich country.

“I came here on behalf of our other ECOWAS heads of state to express our solidarity with the government and people of Nigeria in the face of these terrorist attacks that have been occurring.”

President Mahama revealed that heads of state in the sub-region are considering implementing the bloc's Counter-Terrorism Strategy and Implementation Plan adopted at its 42nd Ordinary Session in Yamoussoukro, Cote d'Ivoire.

“We are looking to call a meeting of our joint intelligence chiefs in Accra next week and we are inviting Cameroun and Chad to join so that together we can see how we eliminate this security threat to the sub region,” he told journalists in Abuja on Thursday.

Nigeria has been the hardest hit of terrorist attacks in West Africa with the recent abduction of over 200 school girls raising the hackles of the world.

President Mahama assured Nigerians of Ghana’s support, saying “Nigerians shouldn’t feel that it is peculiar to Nigeria, and when terrorism happens anywhere in the world, everybody must be concerned.”

“Any destabilisation of Nigeria is a destabilisation of the whole of the West African sub region.”