By Sumaila Ogbaje
The Minister of Defence, retired Maj.-Gen. Bashir Magashi, has restated the Federal Government’s commitment to strengthening bilateral and multilateral ties with friendly countries to support the ongoing military operations across the country.
A statement by Magashi’s Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mohammad Abdulkadri, said the minister made the remarks during a visit by the United Arab Emirates Ambassador to Nigeria, Dr. Fahad Al-Taffaq, on Thursday in Abuja.
He said that such cooperation would add technical and tactical values to the current military campaigns as part of strategic measures to end banditry and terrorism in the country.
The minister said that Nigeria and the UAE were dependable partners in the membership of the United Nations (UN), Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC).
He added that Nigeria had a favourable disposition to the UAE overtures to synergise efforts on mutual concerns including military bilateral cooperation.
According to him, a Win-win Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to be signed by the two countries would be a workable template, that would fast track military joint trainings.
According to him, it would include exchange of intelligence and mutual cooperation in technical transfer of knowledge in favour of Defence Industrial Corporation of Nigeria (DICON).
Magashi said that the procurement of military equipment and the technology transfer should be carried out strictly on government-to-government basis for transparency, reliability accountability and sustainability.
Earlier, the UAE Ambassador to Nigeria, Al -Taffaq said that his visit was informed by the need to establish robust military bilateral cooperation with Nigeria.
He said that UAE was ready to share her experience in counter-terrorism exploits and technical capability to support and complement Nigerian military campaigns to end banditry and insurgency plaguing the country.
He assured that the UAE was open to high level talks that would culminate into signing of the proposed MoU as a working tool for future collaborative engagements. (NAN)
