President
Muhammadu Buhari and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, agreed during
talks yesterday in Ankara to strengthen cooperation between
the security
agencies of both countries to tackle terrorism.
At a joint
press conference after the meeting, President Buhari 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. We will as a result of the meeting between the ministers and
officials of both countries strengthen rapidly whatever their recommendations
are,’’ Buhari said.
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 2015.
‘’We were
very surprised and disturbed by the claim made by Boko Haram on what they have
been getting from ISIS. We know we will be able to contain them and we have
proved that we can do it.
‘’We are
very pleased that Turkey is in a position to assist us and has been
strengthening our educational and health institutions,’’ he said.
Buhari, in a
statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu,
yesterday said the two leaders also discussed the prospects of increasing their
bilateral trade, which has exceeded $779 million in the first eight months of
2017.
According to
Erdogan, Nigeria has great potential and remains “a global actor in terms of
economy, demographics and its peacekeeping records.”
According to
him, Turkey is interested in investing in Nigeria’s electricity, refineries and
gas sectors. He said 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.
‘’All of
these organisations are hordes of murderers that feed on the innocent people,
and in the fight against terrorism, we will stand with our Nigerian friends,
and we are ready to share our experience and provide all kinds of support.
‘’We also
expect the same cooperation from Nigeria in fighting against Fethullah that
murdered 250 Turkish citizens last year.’’
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