The Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor has said the Nigerian Armed Forces was ready to partner with the Egyptian Military in securing training opportunities for it’s Special Forces as well as Air Defence Systems capabilities.
Noting that the Egyptian military has wide ranging experiences in fighting against terrorists in the Sinai and the Magreb region, the CDS said the Defence headquarters was looking forward to more training opportunities with Egypt in the areas of Medical training and Counter Improvised Explosive Device training support.
Speaking at the opening of the 2nd Conference on Military Cooperation between the Armed Forces of Nigeria and the Armed Forces of Egypt, the CDS who was represented by the Chief of Defence Policy and Plans, Air Vice Marshal Ayo Jolasimi, recalled that during the 1st Conference between both countries which held in Egypt, seven items for discussion and mutual interest were put on the table.
He said, “Four of the items which involved training and collaboration were to take place in Egypt while 3 three items were to take place in Nigeria. Among the four are the training for Special Forces, Air Defence operations, collaboration towards making the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria achive its mandate and Miliary Musuems.
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Commending the long standing relation existing with Egypt, the CDS said, “So far, we expect further collaboration in others areas like Medical, Counter IEDs, Equipment Maintenance, Border Security and Engineering Suport Services.
“And as the talks progress, any other issue relevant shall be put on the table, including Intelligence trainig will be discussed”.
On his part, head of the Nigerian Delegation and Director of policy, Defence Headquarters, Major General Usman Abdulmumuni Yusuf said, “What we are looking forward to is how to derive maximum benefit from experiences in fighting insurgency and other crimes. Egypt has a good experience in fighting Islamic jihadists in some parts of the country. We have been experiencing insurgency in the northeast for sometime now. We are going to be sharing experiences and trainings.”
The Egyptian delegation was led by the Assistant Minister of Defcence of Egypt, Major General Mohammed El Dein Hassan.
Present at the conference were the head of Nigeria’s delegation and Director of Plans, Defence headquarters, Major Gen Yusuf, the Defence Adviser of Nigeria to Egypt, Major General Yahaya and the Coordinator, Peacekeeping Support Operations at Ministry of Defence, Major General S Mohammed, Brigadier Gen Otaru and Air Commodore Alhaji among others.
