Nigeria assumes chairmanship of AU peace, security council

By Favour Ulebor, Abuja

Nigeria has assumed the chairmanship of the African Union Peace and Security Council, PSC, for the month of May 2026, with discussions expected to focus on terrorism, climate change, piracy and insecurity across Africa.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs disclosed this in a press statement signed by the ministry’s spokesperson, Kimiebi Imomotimi Ebienfa, on Friday.

According to the Ministry, Nigeria last chaired the Council in December 2022 and remains the only African Union member state that has served continuously in the Council since its establishment in 2004.

The Ministry said Nigeria would bring its institutional memory to the leadership of the Council during the month.

It stated that during the May 2026 session, Nigeria would lead discussions on several thematic and country-specific issues affecting West Africa, the Sahel region and the African continent at large.

Some of the issues listed by the ministry include “the impact of climate change on the crisis situation in the Lake Chad Basin and Sahel regions; African strategies for combating transnational organised crime in Africa; the draft 5-year AU Continental Counter Terrorism Strategic Plan of Action; operationalisation of the African Standby Force; and the operationalisation of the Combined Maritime Task Force in addressing piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, among others.”

The ministry further explained that the African Union Peace and Security Council consists of 15 members elected by the Executive Council and endorsed by the AU Assembly, serving either two- or three-year terms based on regional representation.

It added that the current members of the council are Nigeria, Benin, Gabon, Algeria, Lesotho, Morocco, Somalia, South Africa, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Ethiopia, Cameroon and Eswatini.