Abuja, 24^th July 2017. ECOWAS in accordance with its mandate of ensuring peace and security in the region, will undertake a Command Post Exercise (CPX) code-named JIGUI IV in 2018, aimed at enhancing the capability of ECOWAS to plan and deploy the ECOWAS Standby Force (ESF) in order to sustain the Full Operational Capability (FOC) of the ESF. The CPX will be executed at the strategic and operational levels of multidimensional peace operations.

In view of this a Core Planning Team (CPT) for the CPX comprising of the personnel of the ESF, ECOWAS Directorates, Training Centres of Excellence (TCE) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), have begun a scenario development workshop with the aim of creating a narrative which will be focused on stimulating the training audience into action.

During the opening session of the five-day workshop which began on 24^th July 2017 at the National Defence College (NDC) in Abuja, Nigeria, the ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, Mrs. Halima Ahmed stated that for the exercise to be comprehensive and effective, it should depict the historical, political, cultural, humanitarian, economic, military and legal background of the simulated crisis.

The Commissioner highlighted that the workshop is an important step towards building the capacity of the ESF, testing its deployment capability, its strategic movement plan and assessing ECOWAS’ Peace Support Operations (PSO) decision making process.

The Commissioner further stated that it was imperative that the scenario development for the CPX takes into account contemporary security challenges such as terrorism, human trafficking, small arms proliferation, narcotics and cybercrimes amongst others’, she said.

In the same vein, the Commandant of the NDC Rear Admiral Samuel Alade reiterated the importance of including current security challenges into the simulation exercise in order to enhance the ability of the ESF combat them effectively.

He reiterated the readiness of the NDC to host the CPX – JIGUI IV in Abuja and assured them of the College’s ability and preparedness to host the exercise. The NDC is committed to ensuring the smooth conduct of the CPX and will continue to partner with ECOWAS to make it a success.

To this end, members of the CPX CPT will be briefed on the exercise specifications, training objectives and familiarized with a generic CARANA scenario which has been adapted into the regional context and will be utilized for the exercise. Furthermore, the participants will engage in syndicate discussions and develop the scenario narrative for the CPX.

The CPX – JUGUI IV, which will be formally launched by ECOWAS before its commencement is the 4^th CPX to be conducted by the ESF. The Exercise will be conducted in collaboration with the African Union, ECOWAS Training Centers of Excellence, Member States and Development Partners.

It would be recalled that the ESF was established in 2004 as a multidimensional and integrated regional force which comprises of pledged military, police and civilian personnel from ECOWAS Member States. Its core mandates include peacekeeping, support of humanitarian disasters and the enforcement of sanctions within the region amongst others.

In attendance during the opening ceremony for the workshop were the ECOWAS Commission’s Director for Peace Keeping and Regional Security, Dr. Cyriaque Agnekethom, Exercise Director, General Hassan Lai, representatives from the International Committee of the Red Cross, the NDC, the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), the Ecole de Maintien de la Paix Alioune Blondin Beye (EMPABB) and staff of the ESF.