Tinubu Warns Against ‘Outsourcing’ African Security, Rejects Private Military Contractors at AU-EU Summit

President Bola Tinubu, has rejected the growing reliance on private military and security contractors in conflict zones in Africa, warning that their involvement undermines sovereignty and complicates counter-terrorism operations across the continent.

Speaking during the first plenary session on Peace, Security, Governance and Multilateralism, at the Seventh African Union–European Union Summit in Luanda, Angola, Tinubu said peace efforts must be led and owned by African governments rather than outsourced to private actors with opaque mandates. President Tinubu, who was represented by the Vice President, Kashim Shettima, argued that Africa’s security challenges, from terrorism to transnational organized crime, require coordinated state-driven responses, not parallel forces that weaken command structures. Similarly, Tinubu intensified Nigeria’s bid to secure permanent seats with veto-wielding authority in the United Nations Security Council for Africa