Abuja - Nigeria's President Umaru Yar'Adua called Monday for global networking by intelligence and security services to counteract international terrorism.

"No single country is either immune or capable of engaging these threats alone," he said at the start of the Conference of Heads of Intelligence and Security Services of West Africa (CISSA).

Yar'Adua urged participants to find lasting solutions to cross- border banditry, arms smuggling, illegal drugs, trafficking, illegal migration and terrorism and challenged CISSA heads to check the spread of extremist ideologies by elements outside the West African sub-region.

It was crucial to note the links between security and development, he said.

"Obviously the negative social effects of under-development would continue to create circumstances that undermine the capacity of our respective governments to guarantee the protection of lives, investments, and development programmes," he said.

Yar'Adua expressed satisfaction with the relatively stable security climate in the sub-region compared to years of crises in Liberia and Sierra Leone.

"We are pleased to acknowledge the success of democratization and post-conflict reconstruction efforts in these two sister nations," he said.

The Nigerian president also saluted Cote d'Ivoire and its leaders for bringing the country back from the brink, and finding a home- grown solution to their crisis. (dpa)