The Minister of Defence, Maj. Gen. Bashir Salihi Magashi (rtd) has restated the federal government’s commitment to strengthening bilateral and multilateral ties with friendly countries to further boost technical and tactical values to the current military campaigns as part of strategic measures to end banditry and terrorism in the country.
Magashi stated this when the United Arab Emirate, UAE, Ambassador to Nigeria, Dr. Fahad Obaid Al – Taffaq, paid a courtesy call on him at the Ship House Headquarters of the Ministry of Defence Abuja.
He said Nigeria has come a long way with UAE in the International
diplomatic arena as dependable partner in the membership of the United Nations (UN), Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC).
The Minister of Defence alluded to the High level visit of President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to his Counterpart, His Highness Khalifa bin Zayed in Abu Dhabi in 2016 and the most recent in 2019 as pointers to Nigeria’s favourable disposition to UAE overtures to synergise efforts on mutual concerns including Military bilateral Cooperation.
He emphasised that a Win-win Memorandum of Understanding, MoU to be signed by the two Countries will be a workable template that catalyst to fast tracking Military joint Trainings, exchange of intelligence and mutual Cooperation in technical tranafer of knowledge in favour of Defence Industrial Corporation of Nigeria (DICON).
The Minister told the UAE Ambassador that the procurement of Military equipment and the technology transfer should however be carried out strictly on government -to- government basis for transparency, reliability accountability and sustainability.
Earlier the UAE Ambassador to Nigeria Dr Fahad Al -Taffaq said the need to establish robust Military bilateral cooperation with Nigeria informed his visit.
Ambassador Al Taffaq said UAE is ready to share her experience in counter – terrorism exploit and technical capability to support and complement Nigerian Military Campaigns to end banditry and insurgency plaguing the country.
He said his Country is open to high level talks that will culminate into signing of the proposed Memorandum of Understanding as a working tool for future collaborative engagements.
