ABUJA — Nigeria’s government has promised to document and preserve the history of its peacekeeping operations in West Africa, following calls from military veterans to honour fallen troops.
Defence Minister Christopher Musa assured a delegation of ECOMOG veterans in Abuja on Friday that the sacrifices made by Nigerian personnel during regional interventions would not be forgotten.”Personnel who paid the supreme price, particularly during peacekeeping missions in Liberia and Sierra Leone, will never be forgotten,” General Musa said, adding that efforts were under way to compile historical records, casualty figures, and archive operational assets.
The statement followed a meeting with former peacekeepers led by retired Major General Ohifeme Ejimai, who urged the defence ministry to address gaps in official documentation and establish a dedicated national remembrance day for those killed in action. ECOMOG — the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group — was established by the West African regional bloc ECOWAS in 1990 to intervene in civil conflicts across the region.
Nigeria provided the bulk of the financial funding, military personnel, and command leadership for the force, which played a central role in restoring stability and ending civil wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone during the 1990s and early 2000s.
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