The African Union Counter-Terrorism Centre (AUCTC) has warned that terrorist cells with modest budgets are moving faster than state procedures by exploiting cheap and accessible technologies.
The Acting Director of the Centre, Mr Idriss Lallali, raised the alarm on Tuesday in Abuja at a regional training of trainers.
The training focused on detecting and disrupting terrorists’ use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and emerging technologies in West Africa and the Sahel.
The training was organised by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) in conjunction with the AUCTC and the Fusion and Liaison Unit (UFL) of the Sahel.
Lallali said groups such as ISWAP, Boko Haram and Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin had extended their reach beyond physical operations by recruiting through social media and moving funds via mobile money services and cryptocurrencies.
He said the groups also purchased weapons through the darknet, flew drones across borders and used artificial intelligence to tailor propaganda and evade detection.
According to him, the threat stemmed not only from technological sophistication but also from speed and cost, as small cells could reach wide audiences and execute operations faster than bureaucratic response systems.
He said the capacity to counter such threats remained uneven across African Union member states, emphasising that the technical gap could be addressed through deliberate training and coordination.
Lallali said the training was co-organised by the Federal Government of Nigeria, the National Counter-Terrorism Centre and the Sahel Fusion and Liaison Unit.
He said it sought to implement the African Union Assembly’s 2022 Malabo commitment to prevent terrorists from abusing digital platforms.
He said the Peace and Security Council, at its 1247th meeting in November 2024 and 1354th meeting in July 2025, had further directed the commission to strengthen member states’ technological capacities.
The meetings, he added, also called for the expansion of the AUCTC Cybersecurity Capability Programme (A3CP) 2026–2030.
He said the programme rested on three pillars: technical competence, regional coordination and private-sector collaboration, noting that much of the infrastructure exploited by terrorists was privately owned.
Lallali explained that social media platforms, telecommunications operators and financial service providers held critical information and expertise, while access to such data required practical arrangements grounded in law, privacy and human rights.
He said participants would receive training over three days in cyber threat intelligence, open-source intelligence, digital forensics and blockchain analysis to trace cryptocurrency transactions and convert scattered online information into actionable intelligence.
He emphasised that regional coordination through trusted counterparts, timely information exchange and cooperation with social media platforms, telecommunications operators and financial service providers were critical to counterterrorism efforts.
Lallali urged participants to establish cross-border contacts during the training to support future investigations, noting that technology and those exploiting it would not wait for lengthy deliberations.
He thanked the Nigerian Government, the NCTC and the Sahel Fusion and Liaison Unit for organising the training, urging participants to develop practical training plans and establish cross-border contacts.
Earlier, the National Coordinator of the National Counter-Terrorism Centre, ONSA, Maj.-Gen. Adamu Laka, urged security experts in West Africa and the Sahel to strengthen their capacity to anticipate, detect, analyse and disrupt terrorist threats before they materialised.
Laka said the region could no longer afford to remain reactive in the face of rapidly evolving terrorist tactics.
He expressed concern that terrorist and violent extremist groups were increasingly exploiting the internet, social media, messaging applications and emerging technologies to spread propaganda, recruit and radicalise individuals, raise funds and coordinate cross-border operations.
The coordinator warned that artificial intelligence was being used to produce personalised extremist content at scale, drones and autonomous systems were expanding terrorists’ operational reach, while virtual assets were opening new financing channels.
“We must therefore strengthen our ability to anticipate, detect, analyse and disrupt threats before they materialise,” he said.
The Director of Policy and Strategy at the NCTC, Commodore Rafiu Oladejo, urged West African and Sahel countries to leverage emerging technologies to deny terrorists freedom of action in the digital space.
Oladejo said the programme marked another milestone in regional collaboration to tackle evolving terrorist threats driven by information and communication technology.
He said the training was designed to undermine terrorist groups’ efforts to exploit technology to threaten the national security of countries across the region.
Oladejo expressed hope that participants would make the best use of the opportunity to strengthen counterterrorism efforts in their respective countries, emphasising the need to close the digital space against violent extremists.
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