Terrorism: Nigeria, Turkey parley on security

By Lawrence Olaoye

President Muhammadu Buhari and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have agreed, after talks in Ankara to strengthen cooperation between the security agencies of both countries to counter terrorism.
According to a statement made available to newsmen by the Senior Special Assistant to Buhari on media and publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, the President while speaking at a joint press conference after a tete-a-tete with his host, said he was ‘‘very pleased’’ that the defence ministers of both countries held extensive discussions on developing new strategies for counter-terrorism.
‘‘We are very pleased with the progress of the meeting so far and we are going to wait for the details of meetings between the two countries.
‘‘We will as a result of the meeting between the ministers and officials of both countries strengthen rapidly whatever their recommendations are,’’ the President said.
Commenting on the degradation of Boko Haram in Nigeria, Buhari said the improved security situation in the North East was an eloquent testimony to the efforts of his administration in combating terrorism
since he came into office in May 2015 The President said the two leaders also discussed the prospects of increasing their bilateral trade, which has exceeded 779 million USD in the first eight months of 2017.
In his remark, Erdogan said Nigeria had great potentials and remains “a global actor in terms of economy, demographics and its peacekeeping records.”
He indicated that Turkey was interested in investing in Nigeria’s electricity, refineries and gas sectors, adding that increasing the flights between Turkey and Nigeria would further improve commercial and people-to-people relationships.
On the fight against terrorism, the Turkish leader said: ‘‘there is no difference between Boko Haram, Fethullah Terrorist Organisation or Daesh (ISIS), which have all killed, inflicted pain and hardship on innocent people.