Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has called on his Senegalese counterpart to reach out to neighbouring countries planning to pull out of the regional bloc and persuade them to return to the fold.

He made the call in Abuja on Thursday while playing host to President Bassirou Diomaye Faye.

President Tinubu was referring to Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, which are all under military rule after recent coups.

Ecowas is struggling to keep its members united after the junta-led countries announced in January that they would be quitting the bloc and went ahead to form the Alliance of Sahelian States.

“As the chairman of Ecowas, I am inviting you to collaborate and meet those other brothers. To persuade them to come back to the fold,” President Tinubu said at the meeting.

The Nigerian president also called for an alignment in West Africa to effectively address the challenges confronting the region, including “terrorism, banditry, human trafficking, and poverty”.

Mr Faye called for the reactivation of the Nigeria-Senegal joint commission to strengthen bilateral relations across the areas of diplomacy, trade, and other spheres.

He said the two countries and their neighbours could work together and “discuss with our brothers and convince them to come back into the fold. To come back and share our common democratic values and what we stand for.”