Nigeria’s National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, and the African Union Counter-Terrorism Centre have issued a stark warning: terrorist groups operating across West Africa and the Sahel are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence, cryptocurrencies, drones, and other digital tools to recruit fighters, conceal funding, spread propaganda, and coordinate attacks while staying ahead of security agencies.
The alert came during a three-day regional training conference held in Abuja focused on detecting and disrupting terrorists’ exploitation of information and communication technologies and emerging technologies. Ribadu was represented by Major General Adamu Laka, National Coordinator of the National Counter Terrorism Centre. Also speaking was Idriss Lalalli, Acting Director of the AU Counter-Terrorism Centre.
How Terror Groups Are Weaponising Technology
According to officials, groups including the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), Boko Haram, and Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) are no longer limited to conventional methods. They recruit and radicalise on social media platforms, move and hide funds through mobile money, gift cards, and cryptocurrencies, acquire weapons on darknet marketplaces, communicate via satellite links that bypass national networks, and deploy drones across borders. Artificial intelligence is used both to generate tailored propaganda and to help evade detection.
Ribadu emphasised the new layers of complexity these tools introduce: “Emerging technologies add further complexity: Artificial Intelligence can rapidly produce personalised content; drones and autonomous systems can expand operational capabilities; and virtual assets can create new financing channels. We must, therefore, strengthen our ability to anticipate, detect, analyse and disrupt threats before they materialise.”
Lalalli underscored the practical advantages these tools give to militants. A relatively small cell with a modest budget can now reach audiences far beyond its physical presence and operate faster than many government procedures allow. Capabilities to counter these methods remain unevenly distributed across the region’s member states. He specifically noted that groups “fly drones across borders, using artificial intelligence to tailor propaganda and evade detection.”
He said, “Across West Africa and the Sahel today, ISWAP, Boko Haram and JNIM are extending their reach through technology. They recruit on social media platforms, move and conceal funds via mobile money, gift cards and cryptocurrencies.
“They buy weapons on darknet marketplaces, communicate over satellite links beyond our networks, and fly drones across borders, using artificial intelligence to tailor propaganda and evade detection.”
Lalalli warned that the speed and relatively low cost of using digital tools had enabled terrorist cells to reach wider audiences and move faster than security agencies could respond.
This warning aligns with wider evidence of technological adaptation by extremist groups in the region. Independent research has documented how Boko Haram and ISWAP factions have used commercially available AI chatbots for practical operational support, including aspects of attack planning and explosives-related problem-solving. Separate United Nations assessments have also flagged the growing use of commercial drones for surveillance and attack support, alongside interest in cryptocurrencies as a less traceable financing channel compared with traditional cash, kidnapping ransoms, or smuggling.
Cryptocurrencies and other virtual assets pose particular challenges for financial intelligence units because they can move value across borders outside conventional banking systems. Combined with encrypted communications and satellite links, these tools complicate traditional tracking and interdiction efforts.
The Regional Response Imperative
Officials stressed that hardware alone is insufficient. Effective countermeasures require building technical expertise, strengthening institutions, and deepening cooperation among security agencies. Ribadu called for increased cross-border intelligence sharing and the timely exchange of actionable cyber-threat information among West African and Sahelian countries. He noted that “no institution, country or sector can defeat terrorism alone.”
Nigeria is working with the AU Counter-Terrorism Centre to secure accreditation for its National Counter Terrorism Centre as a regional centre of excellence, an initiative linked to President Bola Tinubu’s declaration at the High-Level Africa Counterterrorism Summit in April 2024.
The Abuja training itself aimed to equip participants with practical skills in cyber threat intelligence, open-source intelligence, digital forensics, and blockchain analysis. These capabilities are intended to help track online recruitment networks, preserve digital evidence, and follow cryptocurrency transactions. Lalalli also highlighted the need for stronger partnerships with social media companies, telecommunications operators, and financial service providers, since much of the infrastructure being exploited is privately owned.
Looking Ahead
The adoption of AI, cryptocurrencies, drones, and related technologies by terrorist groups represents a significant evolution in the threat landscape across West Africa and the Sahel. These tools lower barriers to propaganda production, financing, and operational coordination while raising the technical bar for detection and disruption.
Security agencies and governments in the region face a clear imperative: close the capability gap through specialised training, better institutional coordination, sustained cross-border collaboration, and constructive engagement with the private sector that controls much of the relevant digital infrastructure. Without these steps, the speed and reach afforded by emerging technologies will continue to favour those who seek to exploit them for violence.
The Abuja conference marks an important recognition of the problem. Sustained follow-through on capacity-building, intelligence sharing, and private-sector partnerships will determine whether the region can stay ahead of this technological adaptation by terrorist networks.
