Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS) leaders are launching a billion-dollar plan to fight terrorism across the region.
The project is expected to become effective next year and will span four years, President Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger Republic announced at the end of the Extraordinary Summit of the Authority of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government on Counter-Terrorism in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
President Muhammadu Buhari who addressed the session appealed to his fellow leaders in ECOWAS not to allow terrorist groups destabilize the region.
ECOWAS, according to Issoufou, had decided to mobilise “the financial resources of up to a billion dollars for the fight against terrorism.”
The fund is planned to help reinforce the military operations of member nations and the joint military operations the type that is engaging Boko Haram in Northeast Nigeria, Chad, Cameroun and Niger Republic.
Lack of funds is a major problem in the fight against terrorism in the continent.
Details of the plan are to be presented to the next ECOWAS summit in December.
