NIGERIA is to focus on addressing the threats posed by Nuclear Weapons and preventing terrorists from accessing Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), as it assumes the rotational Chairmanship of the AU Peace and Security Council (AU-PSC) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the African Union, Amb. Bankole Adeoye, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

Adeoye, took over the position on April 1, from Amb. Zackariaou Maiga, the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Niger, who held the Chairmanship for the month of March, 2018.

Nigeria’s tenure will end on May 1.

He said other focus area include their control regimes, including the urgent need for the promotion of peaceful uses of Nuclear Energy.

“Importantly, the AU-PSC will consider the nexus between Corruption and 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 President Muhammadu Buhari.

“Furthermore, the PSC will explore strategies towards “Saving the Lake Chad” by Enhancing Environmental Sustainability and Human Security in West and Central Africa and undertake a prospective analysis of Africa’s peace and security landscape by 2023’’.

Similarly, the envoy said Nigeria will engage on fashioning a comprehensive approach towards the prevention of the ideology of hate, genocide and hate crimes on the continent.

He listed other areas to be considered by the Council during the period of Nigeria’s Chairmanship to include: the need for Effective take-off of the AU Humanitarian Agency (AUHA), and ameliorating the Impact of Terrorism and Armed Conflict on Africa’s Social Fabric.

Adeoye explained further that Nigeria as chairperson of the Council will prioritise the operationalisation of the African Standby Force, which is a key element of the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) and the Sustainable Financing of the African Union Peace Support Operations with particular emphasis on the African Peace Fund.

“The Council will also embark on a Field Mission in solidarity to the good people of South Sudan and to ascertain the level of progress of the peace process in that country being led by the IGAD and supported by the African Union and its partners.

“Overall, with the support of other members of the Council, Nigeria will use its month-long presidency to actively promote sub-regional and continental peace and security in line with the principles of the AU Constitutive Act, UN Charter and the mandate of the Council,’’ he said.

NAN reports that the AU-PSC is the standing decision-making organ of the AU, which is patterned along the UN Security Council to enforce Union Decisions, particularly in matters relating to the maintenance of regional and continental peace and security.

It is also a key element of the African Union Peace and Security Architecture .

Members of the Council are elected by the Assembly of the African Union so as to reflect regional balance within Africa, as well as a variety of other criteria, including capacity to contribute militarily and financially to the Union.

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

In view of Nigeria’s contributions to peace and security in the sub-regional and continental levels, the country has sustained its membership of this most vital mechanism since inception in 2004.

The current members of the AU-PSC are: Angola, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Liberia, Morocco, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Togo, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya, Zambia, and Republic of Congo. (NAN)

– Apr. 3, 2018 @ 15:39 GMT

AE