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Liberia: How Nigeria’s Soldiers Paid the Price for West Africa’s Peace
Liberia: How Nigeria’s Soldiers Paid the Price for West Africa’s Peace
By: Michael Mike
For Nigeria, the war in Liberia was never just another foreign conflict.
It became a war fought at a distance but paid for in Nigerian blood, as hundreds of soldiers were deployed into one of West Africa’s most brutal civil wars in an attempt to stop the violence from engulfing the region.
More than three decades after the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) entered Liberia, Nigeria’s Defence Minister, Christopher Musa, has reopened the chapter, revealing the personal cost of an intervention that transformed ECOWAS from an economic organisation into a major regional security actor.
Musa disclosed that he lost 10 of his coursemates from the Nigerian Defence Academy during the operations, a revelation that brought home the human price behind Nigeria’s leading role in the regional peace effort.
He spoke in Abuja on Thursday at the unveiling of Fighting Bushfires: ECOWAS and Peacemaking in West Africa – The Experience and Learning Curves, a book by Prof. Amadu Sesay documenting ECOWAS interventions in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea-Bissau.
The minister’s account offered a stark reminder that the peace eventually achieved in Liberia was built not only through diplomatic negotiations but through years of military operations in which West African troops faced combat, disease, difficult terrain and an unpredictable enemy.
Nigeria became the backbone of ECOMOG after the force was deployed to Liberia in 1990 following the outbreak of civil war.
The conflict, which began in 1989, rapidly developed into a regional crisis, threatening to destabilise neighbouring countries and generating massive refugee movements.
For Nigeria, Musa said, allowing Liberia’s instability to fester was never an option because insecurity in neighbouring countries inevitably creates consequences for Nigeria.
He identified refugee flows, disruption of trade, organised crime and cross-border insecurity as some of the dangers that made regional intervention a matter of national security.
But behind the strategic calculations were individual soldiers who left their families and careers to enter a war zone.
Musa recalled the case of a young officer who was advised to remain in Nigeria because he was considered too junior to participate in the operation.
The officer insisted on going with his colleagues.
About a year later, he was killed.
“Those are the sacrifices that have been made and that will continue to be made,” Musa said.
For the minister, remembering those sacrifices is not merely an exercise in military history. It is a warning that the region must not allow the conditions that produced the wars to return.
“What we owe them is to make sure that we unite, and not allow Africa to fall. Other than that, they will not achieve what they died for,” he said.
The Liberian intervention also exposed the limits of military power.
ECOMOG’s involvement in Liberia was marked by intense fighting, shifting alliances and the difficulty of achieving peace in a conflict involving multiple armed factions.
Yet its intervention demonstrated that African countries were willing to assume responsibility for a security crisis in their own neighbourhood at a time when external intervention could not be taken for granted.
The experience later shaped ECOWAS’s response to Sierra Leone, where ECOMOG again became a critical component of efforts to defeat rebel forces and restore constitutional government.
Musa said the lessons from those operations remain relevant to today’s security crises across West Africa, particularly the growing threat of asymmetric warfare.
“Under no condition should an army allow asymmetric warfare to take root in your country, because it’s a very, very difficult situation,” he warned.
He urged countries to act before insurgencies and other forms of irregular warfare become entrenched.
“It is important for countries not facing it, please don’t allow it to take root. Nip it in the bud as quickly as possible,” he said.
The minister also argued that military force alone could not deliver lasting peace.
According to him, kinetic operations account for only about 30 per cent of the solution to insecurity, while the remaining 70 per cent depends on non-kinetic measures.
That lesson, he suggested, should be central to how ECOWAS responds to today’s conflicts.
The Abuja ceremony also recognised another group that paid heavily for the Liberian war—the journalists who entered the conflict zones to report the fighting.
Krees Imodibie of Vanguard and Tayo Awotusin of Champion, two Nigerian journalists killed while covering the Liberian conflict, were posthumously honoured with the Peace of the Rose Award.
Their deaths highlighted the dangers faced by journalists who documented the war and ensured that events taking place far from the world’s major news centres were recorded.
The recognition of the soldiers and journalists at the same ceremony therefore presented a broader picture of the Liberian conflict: a war in which West Africans not only fought to restore peace but also risked their lives documenting and defending the region’s future.
As ECOWAS marks its 50th anniversary, the Liberian experience has assumed renewed significance.
The conflict demonstrated that instability in one West African country could rapidly become a regional problem—and that collective security required more than declarations.
It required troops, resources, political will and, ultimately, human sacrifice.
For Nigeria, the legacy of Liberia is therefore not simply the story of a foreign intervention.
It is the story of soldiers who did not return, journalists who never made it home and a generation of West African leaders who concluded that the region could not leave its security entirely to outsiders.
Musa’s account has brought that forgotten cost back into focus—and with it, a question for today’s ECOWAS: will the region learn from the sacrifices that bought its previous peace before the next war demands another generation of lives?
Liberia: How Nigeria’s Soldiers Paid the Price for West Africa’s Peace
OPEP troops foil suspected Fulani bandits reprisal attack on Jwerk Kargung village in Plateau
By: Zagazola Makama
Troops of Sector 8, Sub-Sector 81, Operation Hakorin Damisa (OPEP), have foiled an attempted reprisal attack on Jwerk Kargung Village in Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau State.
The incident occurred at about 8:35 p.m. on Sept. 20, 2026, following reports of sporadic gunshots around the community.
Troops deployed at Mangu Halle, alongside personnel of Operation Rainbow and Keystone Mangu Division, swiftly responded to the report and moved to the affected area.
According to military sources, the quick intervention of the troops forced the gunmen, suspected to be Fulani militias, who were allegedly attempting to attack the village, to withdraw into the bush.
The troops subsequently dominated the general area and commenced offensive operations to frustrate further criminal activities and prevent the attackers from regrouping.
Security forces are maintaining patrols around the community as efforts continue to safeguard residents and prevent further attacks.
OPEP troops foil suspected Fulani bandits reprisal attack on Jwerk Kargung village in Plateau
NIS Enrolls 8,552 Nigerians in Diaspora Passport Intervention
By: Michael Mike
The Nigeria Immigration Service has enrolled 8,552 Nigerians in the diaspora under targeted passport intervention exercises conducted in the United States, Canada, Qatar and the United Kingdom.
The Service said the exercises were undertaken in line with its commitment to improving passport service delivery to Nigerians abroad and under the directive of the Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo.
According to the Service, the intervention was designed to bring passport services closer to Nigerians in various cities and was conducted in collaboration with Nigerian diplomatic missions and representatives of Nigerian communities to ensure a coordinated and responsive service delivery process.
According to a statement on Monday by the spokesman of NIS, Akinsola Akinlabi, in the United States, the exercise was held between 7th and 15th September 2026 across Chicago, Michigan and Milwaukee where 535 applicants were enrolled. In Canada, the exercise which ran from 6th to 19th September 2026 across Manitoba, Toronto, Saskatoon, Alberta and New Brunswick enrolled 2,257 Nigerians.
The exercise in Qatar which held from 9th to 24th August 2026 enrolled 751 applicants.
The exercise in the United Kingdom covering London and Manchester which has enrolled 5,099 applicants is still ongoing.
Akinsola said passport production and dispatch are being carried out concurrently with the enrolment in the United Kingdom.
The Nigeria Immigration Service advised applicants who were unable to secure appointment slots during the exercises, as well as those who may prefer not to physically visit the centres or the High Commission, to utilise the Contactless Passport Application System for their applications.
The Service reiterated its commitment to responsive and accessible passport services for Nigerians in the diaspora and to ensuring timely, efficient and convenient service delivery.
NIS Enrolls 8,552 Nigerians in Diaspora Passport Intervention
Experts Warn that Climate Crisis is Paramount to Explosion of Insecurity in West Africa
By: Michael Mike
Climate change is fueling population displacement and threatening regional stability across West Africa, experts warned Monday as the Second Extraordinary Session of the ECOWAS Parliament opened in Accra.
The warning was issued at the Second Extraordinary Session and Second Parliamentary Seminar with the theme: “Climate Change as a Driver of Environmental Degradation, Population Displacement and Rising Insecurity in the ECOWAS Region.” The session will run from 21st to 28th September 2026 in Accra, Republic of Ghana.
Experts told lawmakers that rising temperatures, extreme weather, drought, unpredictable rainfall, flooding, rising sea levels and land degradation are putting direct pressure on livelihoods, critical infrastructure and security.
Opening proceedings, Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Hadja Memounatou Ibrahima, said the session was convened at a critical time for the region. She drew attention to Ghana’s Founder’s Day, marking the birth of Ghana’s first President Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, and called on participants to honour his vision of a free and united Africa. A minute of silence was observed in his honour.
Dr. Derek Sarfo-Yiadom, Senior Programme Officer, Climate Change and Ozone Directorate of Ghana’s Environmental Protection Authority, said climate hazards were no longer distant threats.
He noted that: “Climate hazards are with us,” listing extreme heat, drought, heavy and unpredictable rainfall and rising sea levels as growing concerns.
Sarfo-Yiadom said seasonal temperatures have risen by between one and three degrees Celsius since 1970, driving hotter heatwaves and unpredictable weather.
He lamented that changing rainfall patterns are increasing flood risks while drought and heat are crippling farming, while identifying farmers, low-income communities, coastal settlements and displaced populations as the most vulnerable.
He decried that homes, irrigation, electricity, transport networks, ports, markets and public services are at risk.
He however warned that the impact becomes a disaster when exposed communities lack capacity to cope, and that climate pressure is already contributing to displacement and conflict in agriculture-dependent communities.
He called for increased investment in adaptation, flood-proof zoning, expansion of climate-risk mapping, early-warning systems that reach vulnerable communities, and accountability for climate-related spending.
On his part, the Principal Officer, Climate Change and Climate Services at the ECOWAS Commission, Mr. Raoul Kouame, said ECOWAS must harmonise regional climate policies and support member states to implement their commitments under the Paris Agreement.
“The challenge is no longer just to define climate commitments,” Kouame said.
He identified institutional fragmentation, differences in national capacities and difficulties accessing climate finance as the main obstacles to action.
Kouame advocated stronger coordination between regional and national institutions and mechanisms to help countries align national frameworks with regional structures. He said cooperation must cover climate services, early warning systems, forest and ecosystem protection, carbon markets and access to finance.
The gap is huge. The ECOWAS Regional Strategy for Access to and Mobilization of Climate Finance, adopted in 2022, had estimated the region’s climate financing needs at $294 billion, based on conditional requirements contained in the NDCs 2.0. ECOWAS officials have warned that 32m West Africans risk displacement, with $294bn needed to tackle the crisis.
In 2024 the Commission began a new regional process, in line with ECOWAS Vision 2050 and the African Union’s Agenda 2063, to develop a harmonized framework for a regional carbon market platform.
Dr. Abdou Ali, climate, water and meteorology expert with the Permanent Inter-State Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS), told lawmakers that West Africa has been here before.
He noted that CILSS itself was created in 1973 during the first great drought in the region, in the wake of the devastating droughts of 1968-1970, stating that its mandate remains food security and combating drought and desertification.
Ali said regional cooperation is essential because climate risks do not stop at national borders. He listed agriculture, coastal areas, biodiversity, disaster risk and human displacement as areas requiring coordinated adaptation, and said climate action must be integrated into agriculture, forestry, energy, transport, industrialisation and waste management policies.
He stressed that regional strategies need adequate financing, stronger institutions and effective implementation mechanisms.
The presentations converged on one point: adaptation measures must account for the needs and livelihoods of affected communities to avoid creating new vulnerabilities.
Parliamentarians are now in closed deliberations on the expert presentations.
Experts Warn that Climate Crisis is Paramount to Explosion of Insecurity in West Africa
OPEP troops foil suspected Fulani bandits reprisal attack on Jwerk Kargung village in Plateau
NIS Enrolls 8,552 Nigerians in Diaspora Passport Intervention
Experts Warn that Climate Crisis is Paramount to Explosion of Insecurity in West Africa
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