The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Lieutenant General William Agyapong, has cautioned that Ghana’s security setting is shifting fast and calls for a swift, unified national action.
He said the lecture topic, “From the Sahel to the Gulf of Guinea: Violent Extremism and Maritime Insecurity in West Africa: Implications for Ghana and Regional Security,” was chosen on purpose to capture the evolving risks across the region.
He said the present risk profile has changed in ways that require a blunt and timely response from the state and security agencies. Lt Gen Agyapong noted that extremist networks in the Sahel are becoming more flexible, better funded and pushing further toward the south.
“The map of our threat environment currently has shifted dramatically in ways that demand a direct and honest response from government,” he stated.
On sea safety, the CDS flagged growing criminal acts in the Gulf of Guinea, which he said now intersect more often with cross-border terrorist groups. He pointed to sea robberies, including raids on fishing boats and theft of outboard engines, which are stranding and exposing small-scale fishers to danger. “Our maritime frontier in the Gulf of Guinea continues to be exploited by criminal actors whose activities overlap with those of transnational terrorism,” he said.
He stressed that this is not fear-mongering but a strategic fact that demands constant vigilance, readiness, and joint action with neighbours to protect the country. “Ghana sits geographically and strategically between these two converging threat vectors. That is not an alarmist observation; it is a planning reality that requires our full attention,” he added.
