Nigeria, UK Strengthen Ties To End Insurgency

The Minister of Defence, Alh. Mohammed Badaru, has said that Nigeria would strengthen bilateral relationship with the United Kingdom (UK) in fighting insurgency.

He stated this when a UK delegation led by Minister for Armed Forces and Veterans, Mr. James Heappey, visited him in his office in Abuja on Thursday.

In a statement by the Director of Press, Ministry of Defence, Victoria Agba-Attah, Badaru said Britain has been supportive in ensuring the safety of Nigerian waterways, adding that security is a dynamic issue which has its own challenges.

The Minister said that the Nigerian Military and British Military had to work together to combat the Boko Haram threat.

He said that the West needed to give more support to Nigeria as it has given to other nations.

Earlier in his remarks, the Minister of State for Defence, Dr. Bello Matawalle, said Nigeria and United Kingdom have had good bilateral relationship.

Matawalle reaffirmed Federal Government’s commitment to ending insurgency and banditry in Nigeria, adding that both countries needed to work closely in areas of capacity building, training of military personnel, technology transfer as well as provision of modern equipment to fight Boko Haram.

In his welcome address, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Dr. Ibrahim Abubakar Kana, said that Britain tops the list on Nigeria’s international friends, adding that Nigeria cherishes the relationship between the two countries.

The United Kingdom Minister for Armed Forces, Mr. James Heappey, said that the purpose of the visit was to adjust and expand their support to the Armed Forces of Nigeria based on the needs and perception of the changing threats.

LEADERSHIP reports that this was the first official visit to the Nigeria’s Ministers of Defence since their assumption of office on Tuesday, August 22, 2023.