Nigeria Assumes Chairmanship Of AU Peace, Security Council

Nigeria has assumed the chairmanship of the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council for May 2026, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced.

This was disclosed in a statement signed by the spokesperson of the Ministry, Kimiebi Imomotimi Ebienfa, and released on Friday.

The ministry said Nigeria last chaired the Council in December 2022, noting that “Nigeria, being the only AU member state to have been a member of the council since its inception in 2004, will bring institutional memory to the leadership of the Council.”

According to the statement, during May 2026, Nigeria will lead the esteemed Council on discussions around several thematic and country-specific issues of interest to both the West African/Sahel region and the continent in general.

It listed some of the issues to be considered to include “the impact of climate change on the crisis 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; operationalization 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 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 two or three-year terms based on regional representation.

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