Nigeria assumes AU Security Council chair for April

Nigeria has assumed a one-month rotational chairmanship of the African Union Peace and Security Council (AU-PSC) for April, 2018. Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to AU, Ambassador Bankole Adeoye, took over from Ambassador Zackariaou Maiga, the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Niger, who was the council’s chair for March, 2018.

The AU peace and Security Council, under the Nigeria’s chairmanship, will focus on addressing threats posed by nuclear weapons and the imperative of preventing terrorists from accessing them, according to a statement from Nigeria’s Permanent Mission to AU in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

“Importantly, the PSC will consider the nexus between corruption & conflict resolution and the imperative of promoting good economic policies in the context of Nigeria’s Championing of the 2018 AU annual theme on anti-corruption under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari.

“Furthermore, the PSC will explore strategies towards ‘Saving the Lake Chad’ by enhancing environmental sustainability & human security in West & Central Africa and undertake a prospective analysis of Africa’s peace and security landscape by 2023.”

The Council is composed of fifteen countries, of which five are elected to three-year terms, and ten to two-year terms.

The current members of the council are; Angola, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Liberia, Morocco, and Rwanda

Others are; Sierra Leone, Togo, Zimbabwe, Egypt, Kenya, Zambia, and Republic of Congo. Nigeria,