The Vice President, Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, has stressed that no country can guarantee its security in isolation, urging ECOWAS member states to strengthen collective action and intelligence sharing to confront rising security threats across the sub-region.
Opening a two-day ECOWAS Ministerial Meeting on Regional Cooperation and Security, which brought together Heads of State and Government, Ministers, and Intelligence Chiefs from the sub-region, she stressed that diplomacy and security are inseparable.
She explained that the threats facing the world today, ranging from violent extremism and terrorism to organised crime and cross-border insecurity, make diplomacy and security increasingly transnational.
“We require integrated approaches that align security strategies, foreign policy, and development agendas. Fragmented, siloed responses are no longer sufficient”, she added.
A number of heads of state are also in Accra and expected to join President John Dramani Mahama for their high-level session on Friday. According to Professor Opoku-Agyemang, timely information sharing, joint analysis, and coordinated responses are important because prevention is both practical and cost-effective.
She urged the ministers, security officers and intelligence chiefs to design proposed regional initiatives with implementation in mind, and supported by clear roles, strong institutions, and alignment with national priorities.
“Without these, cooperation risks remaining aspirational rather than operational”, the Vice President said.
The outcomes of the ministerial meeting will shape the heads of state discussion on Friday, and in the words of the Vice President, “No country can secure itself in isolation. This moment presents an opportunity to rethink Pan-Africanism not as an abstract ideal, but as a security and economic imperative, grounded in cooperation, adaptability, and shared progress.”
