Rather than designing one uniform security response for all of West Africa, perhaps it is high time security governance is differentiated according to the geographical reach and character of particular threats.
In setting a new agenda for peace and security in West Africa, emphasis should be on functional and flexible regionalism rather than fixation on maintaining a pan-regional single security mechanism for the entire region. In other words, West African states and regional organisations should develop overlapping arrangements that correspond to specific security challenges. Such an approach does not necessarily make ECOWAS irrelevant. Rather, it recognises that ECOWAS should operate alongside other institutions and mechanisms, including the African Union (AU), the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC), the MNJTF and, increasingly, the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).
