Nigeria seeks stronger military ties with France

Bashir Magashi

The Minister of Defence retired Maj.-Gen. Bashir Magashi has called for a renewal of existing bilateral military agreements between Nigeria and France to reflect the real-time security-related needs of the two countries. Magashi made the call when the French Ambassador to Nigeria, Emmanuelle Blatmann, paid him a courtesy visit on Tuesday in Abuja.

The Special Assistant to the Minister on Media and Publicity, Mohammad Abdulkadri, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja. The minister said that Nigeria and France were strategic partners, adding that the partnerships needed to be rejigged to take it to a higher level.

He said that more proactive intelligence gathering mechanisms and technological support drive new information-sharing regimes to aid military campaigns in the country. Magashi, however, asked for a technological transfer to galvanize the nation’s military capabilities.

Earlier, Blatmann commended the minister for his desire to strengthen the existing bilateral agreements between the two countries. Blatmann requested for the technical interface between the two parties to examine critical areas of mutual benefits in the proposed rebirth of the Memorandum of Understanding.

She told the minister that France would reinforce efforts to end terrorism in Nigeria and Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea. (NAN)