Nigeria and Benin have agreed to deepen their bilateral defence cooperation and establish real-time intelligence sharing mechanisms to combat terrorism, banditry, and transnational crime across West Africa, officials announced this week.
The agreement was reached during Nigerian Minister of Defence General Christopher Musa’s three-day working visit to Cotonou, where he met with Benin’s Minister of National Defence, Gildas Agonkan. Both ministers signed actionable commitments across multiple security sectors.
Under the new framework, the two militaries will establish seamless intelligence fusion mechanisms to track and neutralize transnational criminal networks and insurgent cells before they can execute attacks. Nigeria also offered Benin wider pursuit range for security personnel at shared borders to prevent insurgent spillover.
The cooperation comes as jihadist groups linked to Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin push southward from Burkina Faso into northern Benin, threatening to open a new front into Nigeria’s northwest. Defence Minister Musa described the threat as urgent and pledged zero tolerance against armed extremist groups.
During the visit, Musa inspected Nigerian troops deployed in Togbin, Cotonou, under Operation ATILEYIN ALAFIA II, a peace support mission. He also toured the Centre for Post-Conflict Demining and Explosive Ordnance Disposal Operations and the Glo-Djigbe Industrial Zone.
The agreement builds on earlier military cooperation between Nigeria, Benin, and Niger aimed at securing their shared borders against Sahelian jihadist incursion. Analysts say the trilateral effort is critical as the Alliance of Sahel States, comprising Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, pivots away from Western security partnerships toward Russia.
With cross-border attacks by JNIM and the Islamic State Sahel Province escalating in 2026, both governments view real-time intelligence sharing as essential to preventing insurgent networks from exploiting porous borders and ungoverned forest reserves along their frontier.
Sources:
The Guardian Nigeria: Nigeria, Benin Pledge to Deepen Defence Cooperation
Daily Post: Nigeria, Benin Republic Agree on Joint Action