She said fostering effective collaboration and cooperation were key components which played a crucial role in promoting peace and security in the sub-region.

“It is great to have a partner like KAIPTC who create room for effective and sustained collaboration,” the ECOWAS Vice President said when the Executive Management of KAIPTC led by the Commandant of the Centre, Major General Richard Addo Gyane paid a courtesy call on her in Abuja, Nigeria.

The visit to Nigeria forms part of the strategic efforts of KAIPTC to foster collaborations with critical partners, including the ECOWAS Commission.

It afforded the Centre to officially introduce Maj Gen Gyane as the new Commandant of the Centre to key partners, after his assumption of office in November 2022.

“We are all family and interconnected within the sub-region, so whatever happens in one country affects the other. So, collaboration is key considering the security challenges and realities in the sub-region.” Ms Tchintchibidja stated.

She noted that issues of migration in the sub-region were worrying, and there was an urgent need to find solutions to the phenomenon that was seriously affecting women and the younger population.

The ECOWAS Vice President said women, peace, and security and gender issues were high on the agenda of ECOWAS and that it was important to collaborate effectively in addressing the gaps in terms of inclusion and participation of women in all aspects of preventing and recovering from conflicts and peacebuilding.

Maj Gen Gyane said as a Centre of Excellence in the sub-region, KAIPTC had over the years collaborated with ECOWAS in ensuring peace and security, adding that for a strengthened security architecture in West Africa, there was a strong need for effective collaboration and cooperation at all levels.

He said, among other thematic areas, the KAIPTC’s next five-year Strategic Plan would focus on women and youth empowerment through the Centre’s soon-to-be upgraded Institute for Women, Youth, Peace and Security (WYPS).

The Commandant said women and the youth were mostly affected by the issues of security threats and that such vulnerable groups were at the heart of the Centre’s operations hence the institute.

The Commandant was accompanied by Col Anorph Barnabas Akanbong, Director of Training; Col Robert Adwini (Rtd), Director of Administration; Ms. Horname Noagbesenu- Director, Policy Planning Monitoring and Evaluation (PPMED); Prof. Kwesi Aning, Director, Faculty of Academic Affairs and Research (FAAR); Mr. Lawrence Bediako, Chief Financial Officer; Ms. Amma Addo-Fening, Senior Stakeholder Engagement Officer and Ms. Ayesha Nkrumah from the Corporate Affairs Unit at the Centre.