Nigeria Pushes AU Towards $1bn Peace Fund, Innovative Financing for Africa’s Security

Nigeria has called on the African Union to urgently embrace innovative and sustainable financing mechanisms for peace and security, warning that Africa must progressively reduce its dependence on foreign funding and take greater responsibility for resolving conflicts on the continent.

Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, made the call at the 26th Extraordinary Session of the Executive Council of the African Union held in Luanda, Angola.

The Minister's Special Assistant on Communication and New Media, Dr Magnus Eze said that the meeting convened under the theme, “Strengthening Mechanisms for Conflict Prevention and Resolution in Africa,” focused on deepening Africa’s capacity to prevent conflicts, sustain peace operations and respond more effectively to emerging security challenges.

Odumegwu-Ojukwu, while acknowledging progress made in strengthening the AU Peace Fund, said African nations must now move beyond commitments and develop a reliable financial framework capable of sustaining peace and security interventions across the continent.

She disclosed that AU member states had collectively contributed about $350.2 million, representing 87.5 per cent of the original $400 million capitalisation target, with the Fund’s balance now exceeding $405 million.

According to her, the release of about $39 million for mediation, preventive diplomacy, peace support operations and other interventions demonstrated the growing importance of the Fund in addressing Africa’s security challenges.

The minister, however, said more needed to be done, particularly in ensuring predictable financing for African-led peace operations.

“We therefore call on all Member States to honour their assessed contributions and make additional voluntary contributions where possible, viewing these not merely as obligations but as investments in our collective security and sovereignty,” Odumegwu-Ojukwu said.

She stressed that peace operations could not be effectively sustained without reliable funding for personnel, logistics, equipment and other critical operational needs.

Odumegwu-Ojukwu maintained that while international partners remained important to Africa’s peace and security architecture, the continent could no longer afford to depend overwhelmingly on external assistance.

“External assistance should complement African ownership; it should not substitute for it. African resources should remain the foundation of African peace and security financing,” she said.

The Nigerian foreign minister consequently called for the progressive capitalisation of the AU Peace Fund towards its $1 billion target, while urging African governments to mobilise additional resources from the continent’s financial institutions, private sector and strategic partners.

She also called for the full implementation of the 0.2 per cent levy under the Kigali Financing Decision, describing it as a critical step towards building a more sustainable financial base for the African Union.

In a push for alternative sources of revenue, Odumegwu-Ojukwu proposed that member states could voluntarily provide strategically located land for development by credible private-sector organisations and African multilateral financial institutions.

She said such arrangements, if properly structured, could generate annual royalties for the AU while also stimulating investment, infrastructure development and stronger economic partnerships across the continent.

The minister, however, insisted that every new financing mechanism must be built on transparency, accountability, sound financial management and effective institutional oversight.

“Africa has the institutions, the financial capacity and the political vision to take greater responsibility for its own peace and security. What is required now is the collective political will to translate that capacity into action,” she said.

Odumegwu-Ojukwu reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to supporting collective African efforts to build a more peaceful and secure continent, noting that sustainable peace remained fundamental to the achievement of the African Union’s Agenda 2063 vision of an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa.

She urged African leaders to demonstrate greater commitment to financing their collective security architecture, declaring that the future of peace on the continent should not rest primarily on external support.

“Let us make the African Union Peace Fund not merely an instrument that we endorse, but an institution that we own, finance and sustain. Let us demonstrate through our contributions that African peace is an African responsibility,” she stated.