Nigeria, other African countries face six-fold increase in security threat in 2yrs – US AFRICOM

…Lists Nigeria, 2 others for new bankable infrastructure support By Nkiruka Nnorom The United States has warned that Nigeria and other African countries are facing a more than sixfold rise in security threats in the last two years, citing a dramatic surge in illegal narcotics trafficking and human trafficking on the continent. This is even as it listed Nigeria, Kenya and Côte d’Ivoire as key partners for its new technical assistance programme for bankable infrastructure in Africa, which would help the countries develop projects that attract US participation. Filcek, Director of Logistics at US AFRICOM, disclosed this during a digital press conference with African journalists on the ongoing 2026 Africa Logistics and Communications Symposium, co-hosted with the Ethiopian Ministry of Defence.

The 4-day symposium brought together delegates from 39 African nations and 27 private-sector partners under the theme “Forging Partnerships, Driving Innovation, and Enhancing Collective Readiness”. “Across the African continent, we face growing and converging threats on our mutual security, safety and prosperity, human trafficking and a dramatic rise in illegal narcotics trafficking, now more than six times what it was just two years ago,” Gen. He stressed that defeating the threats would require cooperation, coordination, reliable and effective communications as well as the ability to move personnel, equipment and supplies quickly across difficult terrain, often over great distances and challenging conditions.

For the first time, the symposium deliberately combined logistics and communications into a single conference, which Flicek described as a decisive edge in modern military operations. Also speaking, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Middle East and Africa, Mark Mitchell, disclosed that the Departments of Commerce and State were working together on a project termed Technical Assistance for Bankable Infrastructure in Africa that supports African governments to develop bankable projects that can attract US participation and deliver local value. “It’s a model designed to empower African partners rather than create dependency,” he said.

He cited US investment partnerships with Nigeria, Kenya and Cote d’Ivoire as examples of Washington’s commitment to open, competitive and transparent markets that protect sovereignty and…