According to reporting by Premium Times, the Federal Government of Nigeria has formally backed a series of institutional reforms within the African Union (AU) aimed at strengthening governance in the areas of peace and security. Vice President Kashim Shettima articulated the nation’s stance during a high-level closed session at the 39th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government in Addis Ababa. The endorsement reflects Nigeria’s strategic interest in ensuring the AU is better equipped to handle the continent’s evolving security challenges.
The move comes at a time when the continent is grappling with various insurgencies and constitutional crises. Nigeria’s leadership at the summit emphasized that a more streamlined AU governance structure is essential for swift conflict resolution and the maintenance of regional stability. By supporting these reforms, Nigeria seeks to bolster the AU’s mandate to intervene more effectively in troubled regions across Africa.
Further details indicate that the reforms are expected to reorganize the AU Commission to ensure better accountability and resource allocation. This shift is seen as a pivotal step in moving the continental body from a reactive stance to a more proactive role in peacekeeping operations.
The Punch Newspapers confirmed the development, noting that Burundi’s President Évariste Ndayishimiye has officially taken over as the 2026 AU Chairman. Additionally, The Nation reported on the summit’s proceedings, quoting a senior diplomat who stated, “Nigeria’s backing provides the necessary political weight to move these security structural changes from paper to practice.” Meanwhile, a source in The Guardian highlighted the regional consensus, quoting an AU official: “The commitment shown by member states like Nigeria is a clear signal that Africa is ready to take full ownership of its security architecture.”
Echotitbits take: Nigeria’s endorsement is a calculated diplomatic move to maintain its influence as a continental powerhouse. As regional threats like the Sahelian crisis persist, these AU reforms are critical. Watch for how these structural changes affect the funding of the African Standby Force in the coming months.
Source: Premium Times – https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/856758-nigeria-backs-aus-institutional-reforms-on-peace-security.html, and February 15, 2026
Photo credit: Premium Times
Tag: African Union
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Nigeria Endorses Comprehensive African Union Peace and Security Reforms
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Burna Boy and Wizkid Headline ‘Peace Concert’ for 2026 African Unity Summit
Burna Boy and Wizkid have been confirmed as headline acts for a major ‘Peace Concert’ scheduled at the close of the 2026 African Unity Summit in Addis Ababa, an event positioned as a cultural bridge for regional integration.
Organizers say the concert will feature top artists across Africa’s regions and reach a global audience through live streaming, with proceeds directed to the African Union’s emergency fund for displaced persons.
The booking is also notable because it places two of Afrobeats’ biggest names on the same stage, fueling fan excitement and highlighting music’s role in diplomacy and soft power.
Echotitbits take: This is soft power at scale. While governments debate borders and trade, artists like Wizkid and Burna Boy unify audiences through culture. For Nigeria, it’s a strong cultural-diplomacy moment with continent-wide visibility.
Source: Vibe – https://www.vibe.com/music/music-news/burna-boy-wizkid-headline-afro-nation-miami-1234726218/ 2026-01-27Photo Credit: Vibe
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Somaliland recognition shock: Somalia, AU and partners push back after Israel’s move
Photo Credit: Reuters
2025-12-28 09:00:00In a Reuters report, Israel became the first country to formally recognise Somaliland as independent, a move Somalia condemned as unlawful and destabilising for the Horn of Africa.
Somalia’s government and regional partners warned the recognition could encourage secessionist bids and inflame an already volatile neighbourhood with competing security interests.
Diplomatic responses broadened quickly, with multiple states and blocs reiterating support for Somalia’s territorial integrity.
Reuters quoted Somalia’s government calling the move an “unlawful step” and a “deliberate attack,” while AP reported a joint statement rejecting Israel’s recognition “given the serious repercussions… on peace and security.”
Echotitbits take: The big watch is whether recognition triggers a domino effect or stays isolated. For Africa, the tension is between de facto realities and the AU’s long-standing anti-fragmentation stance.
Source: Reuters — December 26, 2025 (https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-recognises-somaliland-somalias-breakway-region-independent-state-2025-12-26/)
Reuters December 26, 2025
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-recognises-somaliland-somalias-breakway-region-independent-state-2025-12-26/ -
African leaders renew reparations demand from UK over colonial-era abuses
2025-12-15 02:00:00
According to The Punch, African leaders are again pushing for compensation from the UK over what they describe as colonial-era crimes, reopening the debate around reparations and historical accountability.
The report situates the demand within wider global reparations conversations, where former colonial powers face growing political pressure to acknowledge harms and consider restitution frameworks.
Reparations debates often blend moral arguments with policy questions around documentation, beneficiaries, and the form compensation should take (cash, debt relief, development funds, apologies, or institutional reforms).
Analysis/Echotitbits take: The practical question is whether any formal mechanism emerges beyond statements—such as a commission, legal action, or negotiated programmes. Watch for UK government reactions, AU positioning, and whether the push links to concrete policy instruments like debt swaps or development financing.
Source: Azerbaycan — December 15, 2025 — https://www.azerbaycan24.com/en/africa-demands-accountability-for-colonial-crimes/
Photo credit: Africa demands accountability for colonial crime
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African Development Bank Approves $27.33m to Ramp Up AU’s COVID-19 Response
In order to complement various national and sub-regional operations, African Development Bank’s Board of Directors Wednesday approved $27.33 million in grants to boost the efforts of the African Union (AU) to mobilise a continental response to curb the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The approval followed a meeting of the extended Bureau of the Conference of Heads of State and Government with Africa’s private sector on April 22 was chaired by President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa and AU chairperson.
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The bank’s President, Akinwumi Adesina, had pledged strong support for AU’s COVID-19 initiative.
President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina Speaking after the board’s approval, Adesina said: “With this financing package, we are reaffirming our strong commitment to a coordinated African response in the face of COVID-19.
“Most importantly, we are sending a strong signal that collectively, the continent can address the pandemic, which is straining health systems and causing unprecedented socio-economic impacts on the continent.”
Also speaking on the approval, the bank’s Acting Vice President, Agriculture, Human and Social Development, Wambui Gichuri, said: “Our response today and support to the African Union is timely and will play a crucial role in helping Africa look inward for solutions to build resilience to this pandemic and future outbreaks.”
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AU Bureau meeting had called for contributions to the African Union’s COVID-19 Response Fund established by the AU Commission chairperson, Moussa Faki Mahamat, in March 2020.
The bank’s grant financing would support the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) in providing technical assistance and building capacity for 37 African Development Fund (ADF) eligible countries, particularly the Transition States, to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and mitigate its impact.
ADF is the bank’s concessional window.
Sourced from ADF’s Regional Operations/Regional Public Goods envelope and the Transition Support Facility, these two grants would support the implementation of Africa CDC’s COVID-19 Pandemic Preparedness and Response Plan through strengthening surveillance at various points of entry (air, sea, and land) in African countries; building sub-regional and national capacity for epidemiological surveillance; and ensuring the availability of testing materials and personal protective equipment for frontline workers deployed in hotspots.
The operation would also facilitate collection of gender-disaggregated data and adequate staffing for Africa CDC’s emergency operations centre.
At the beginning of February 2020, only two reference laboratories – in Senegal and in South Africa – could run tests for COVID-19 on the continent.
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Southern Africa growth may contract by -6.6% in 2020, says AfDB
Africa CDC, working with governments, the World Health Organisation (WHO), and several development partners and public health institutes, have increased this capacity to 44 countries currently.
Despite this progress, Africa’s testing capacity remains low, with the 37 ADF-eligible countries accounting for only 40 per cent of completed COVID-19 tests to date.
Idowu Sowunmi
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AU Patners Novartis to Facilitate Affordable COVID-19-related Supplies to Africa
Novartis and the African Union (AU) through the Africa Medical Supplies Platform (AMSP) have announced a new collaboration to facilitate the supply of medicines from the Novartis Pandemic Response Portfolio to AU member-states and Caricom countries.
AMSP portal is an online marketplace that enables the supply of COVID-19-related critical medical equipment in Africa. It was developed under the leadership of the AU Special Envoy, Strive Masiyiwa, and powered by Janngo, on behalf of Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).
The platform was also developed in partnership with African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).
The new collaboration would help alleviate supply and logistical constraints by ensuring efficient and rapid access to the pandemic portfolio medicines to African and Caricom governments.
AU comprises 55 member-states, representing all the countries on the African continent, while 15 Caricom countries are eligible for the pandemic portfolio.
“Our collaboration with AMSP is a continuation of our efforts at Novartis to combat COVID-19 across the world.
“Together, we are aiming to accelerate and expand access to affordable essential medicines in Africa to meet the very urgent patient needs across the continent as it continues battling this pandemic,” said Chief Executive Officer of Novartis, Vas Narasimhan.
AMSP was developed to ease the difficulties and open up the medical supplies market to Africa, and as part of the Partnership to Accelerate COVID-19 Testing (PACT) of Africa CDC.
It’s designed to integrate African and globally vetted medical suppliers to ensure cost-effectiveness and transparency in the procurement and distribution of the COVID-19-related supplies.
Speaking on the collaboration, Masiyiwa said: “Following the successful listing of test kits, personal protective equipment, and clinical management devices, the African Union Chairperson has expanded our mandate to include groundbreaking medicines to treat the COVID-19 patients in Africa.
“As a global pharmaceutical leader, Novartis is a strategic partner for AMSP to unlock access to the latest and best-performing medicines for Africans in an affordable way.”
There was a shortage of diagnostics, medical supplies and essential medical equipment such as personal protective equipment for healthcare workers, face masks, ventilators, and many others in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and its spread worldwide.
Many African governments had severe challenges with the procurement of essential supplies to support their response activities and face stiff competition with the more industrialised countries for the limited available supplies.
“As a continental body, we are working with several partners to ensure smooth and predictable access to essential medical supplies.
“We found that during the Ebola outbreak in 2014, many people died because of Ebola but not due to Ebola. This is because they did not have access to essential medicines needed for treatment.
“With AMSP, countries don’t have to search the market for supplies. The prices are negotiated and fixed to unlock the supply space,” said Director of Africa CDC, John Nkengasong.
Novartis Pandemic Response Portfolio from Sandoz, the generics and biosimilar division of Novartis, comprises 15 medicines: Amoxicillin, Ceftriaxone, Clarithromycin, Colchicine, Dexamethasone, Dobutamine, Fluconazole, Heparin, Levofloxacin, Loperamide, Pantoprazole, Prednisone, Prednisolone, Salbutamol, Vancomycin.
The portfolio was launched in July 2020 and sells medicines at zero-profit to governments, non-governmental organisations and other institutional customers in up to 79 eligible countries to address the urgent unmet needs of low-and lower-middle-income countries for medicines to be used for symptomatic treatment at various stages of the COVID-19.
Eligible countries must be included on the World Bank’s list of Low-Income Economies and Lower-Middle-Income Economies.
Idowu Sowunmi
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African Union Commission Inaugurates AfCFTA Permanent Secretariat in Ghana
With a provision of a $5 million institutional support grant by the African Development Bank Group, African Union Commission has launched the permanent secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to ensure the economic transformation of the continent.
AfCFTA permanent secretariat would be located in an ultra-modern office complex in the Central Business District of Ghanaian capital, Accra.
Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo hands over the AfCFTA permanent secretariat to African Union, Monday August 17, 2020. Image: CGTN Speaking at the ceremony on Monday, Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo and Chairperson, AU Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, reaffirmed the importance of the body to the continent’s economic transformation agenda.
“The economic integration of Africa will lay strong foundations for an Africa beyond aid. Africa’s new sense of urgency and aspiration of true self-reliance will be amply demonstrated by today’s ceremony,” Akufo-Addo said.
Akufo-Addo appealed to member states that have not ratified to do so before the next AU summit in December in order “to pave the way for the smooth commencement of trading from 1 January, 2021.”
The global novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has heightened the importance of the success of AfCFTA, the Ghanaian president said.
“The destruction of global supply chains has reinforced the necessity for closer integration amongst us so that we can boost our mutual self-sufficiency, strengthen our economies and reduce our dependence on external sources,” he said.
Ghana was selected as the venue for the headquarters by African leaders during a Summit of AU Heads of states in Niamey in July last year, to launch the implementation phase of the agreement, which is expected to spur regional trade among member countries.
Currently, 54 states have signed on to AfCFTA, out of which 28 have ratified the agreement.
AfCFTA, the world’s largest free trade area, has the potential to transform the continent with its potential market of 1.2 billion people and combined GDP of around $3 trillion across the 54-member states of AU.
Mahamat said the opening of the secretariat marked a milestone in the vision of Africa’s founding founders for continental integration.
Also speaking, the first AfCFTA Secretary-General, Wamkele Mene, said the agreement offered an opportunity for Africa to confront the significant trade and economic development challenges: market fragmentation, small national economies, over-reliance on primary commodity exports, narrow export base, lack of export specialisation, under-developed regional value chains and high regulatory and tariff barriers to trade.
“We have to take action now. We have to take action to dismantle the colonial economic model that we inherited,” Mene reiterated.
The Vice President for the Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialisation of the African Development Bank, Solomon Quaynor, said the establishment of AfCFTA permanent secretariat is in keeping with the bank’s role of continental leadership in helping to build special-purpose vehicles that are critical to the successful implementation of crucial institutions to accelerate Africa’s economic development objectives.
“The African Development Bank congratulates the AU/AfCFTA on the investiture of the Secretariat hosted by Ghana on 17 August 2020.
“The bank is delighted to be associated with this groundbreaking, game-changing, transformational continental initiative in furtherance of the objective to create the Africa we want.
“Our support to AfCFTA is in keeping with the bank’s role of continental leadership in helping to build special-purpose vehicles that are critical to the successful implementation of crucial institutions to accelerate Africa’s economic development objectives,” Quaynor added.
The event also featured virtual goodwill remarks from AU Chairman, President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, and Nigerien President Mahamadou Issoufou.
Idowu Sowunmi
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AU, Ecobank Launch MSME Academy for Africa’s Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), a socio-economic flagship programme of the African Union Development Agency (AUDA), otherwise called AUDA-NEPAD, has launched the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Academy, in partnership with Ecobank Group.
Spearheaded under AUDA-NEPAD ‘100,000 MSMEs by 2021’ (100K MSMEs) programme for Africa’s Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, the Academy provides easy access to practical training and resources on financing opportunities in various countries, materials on how to build digital presence for businesses and how to adapt business operations in the era of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
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African Development Bank Approves $27m Grant Financing to Curb COVID-19 Pandemic
African Development Bank has approved a sum of $27.4 million in grants to boost the African Union (AU)’s efforts to mobilise continental response to curb the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Speaking after the bank’s approval by its Board of Governors, President of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina, said: “With this financing package, we are reaffirming our strong commitment to a coordinated African response in the face of COVID-19.
“Most importantly, we are sending a strong signal that collectively, the continent can address the pandemic in Africa, which is straining health systems and causing unprecedented socio-economic impacts on the continent.”
The bulk of the bank’s grant financing for this operation, about $26.03 million, would help to strengthen the institutional capacity of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) to respond to public health emergencies across the continent, while the balance of $1.37 million, would be a contribution to the AU COVID-19 Response Fund.
The two grants, from the bank’s concessional window, the African Development Fund, and the Transition Support Facility, would support the implementation of Africa CDC’s COVID-19 Pandemic Preparedness and Response Plan through strengthening surveillance at various points of entry (air, sea, and land) in African countries; building sub-regional and national capacity for epidemiological surveillance; and ensuring the availability of personal protective equipment for frontline workers deployed in hotspots and testing materials.
The operation would also facilitate collection of gender-disaggregated data and adequate staffing for Africa CDC’s emergency operations center.
The approval came on the heels of a meeting of the extended Bureau of the AU Conference of Heads of State and Government with Africa’s private sector on April 22, chaired by President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, who is the current chairperson of AU.
Adesina, who attended the meeting, pledged strong support for the AU COVID-19 initiative.
AU Bureau meeting called for contributions to the African Union’s COVID-19 Response Fund established by the AU Commission chairperson, Moussa Faki Mahamat, in March 2020.
At the beginning of February 2020, only two reference laboratories in Senegal and South Africa could run tests for COVID-19 on the continent.
Africa CDC, working with governments, World Health Organisation (WHO), and several development partners and public health institutes, have increased this capacity to 44 countries.
Despite this progress, Africa’s testing capacity remains at less than 600 per one million people compared to 50,000 in Europe.
“Our response today and support to the African Union, is timely and will play a crucial role in helping Africa look inward for solutions to build resilience to this pandemic and future outbreaks,” said bank’s Acting Vice President, Agriculture and Human Development, Wambui Gichuri.
This support would complement various national and sub-regional operations financed by the African Development Bank under its COVID-19 Rapid Response Facility to support African countries contain and mitigate the impacts of the pandemic.
Idowu Sowunmi