National Security Adviser (NSA) Mallam Nuhu Ribadu has raised an alarm over the increasing adoption of emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), cryptocurrencies, unmanned aerial vehicles (drones), and social media platforms by terrorist organisations to recruit fighters, finance operations, and evade counter-terrorism surveillance across Nigeria and the broader West African sub-region.
​The warning was delivered on Tuesday, October 13, 2026, during a regional counter-terrorism training event hosted at the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) complex in Abuja.
The three-day conference brought together security experts, intelligence delegates from West Africa and the Sahel, as well as representatives from the African Union (AU), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF), and international partner organisations.
​Speaking through his representative, Major General Adamu Laka (National Coordinator of the National Counter Terrorism Centre), Ribadu highlighted that violent extremist organisations have evolved beyond conventional guerrilla tactics.
He noted that terrorist networks are actively leveraging use of AI to optimise encrypted propaganda, manipulate online discussions, and build sophisticated evasion algorithms to bypass military intelligence detection. To facilitate cross-border financing, launder illegal proceeds, and purchase weapons without detection from traditional banking regulators.
Terrorist use the drones for tactical aerial reconnaissance, battlefield surveillance, and payload deployment against security positions. They use social mediums to target, radicalize, and recruit young people across rural and urban centers in West Africa.
​Addressing the participants at the close of the training sessions, the NSA emphasized the responsibility resting on the newly trained intelligence officers across the continent.
​”You leave as this continent’s first cohort of trainers in this domain,” Major General Laka stated on behalf of the NSA. “You will leave here not just carrying home a certificate, but a responsibility. The Centre will stand behind you, but the multiplier is you.”
​In collaboration with the African Union Counter-Terrorism Centre (AUCTC), the NSA urged West African and Sahel nations to pool resources, modernise technical capabilities, strengthen regulatory frameworks surrounding virtual assets, and enhance cross-border intelligence-sharing networks to stay ahead of evolving security threats.
