Nigeria and China have announced a significant military partnership, focusing on local arms production and military training as part of efforts to improve security in Nigeria and across Africa.
This was disclosed by Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, following a meeting between President Bola Tinubu and China’s Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja on Thursday.
Tuggar explained that this collaboration forms a key part of Nigeria’s broader strategy to combat terrorism and insecurity, both within its borders and in neighbouring countries.
He expressed the nation’s desire to establish local production of military equipment, which would help bypass the delays and regulatory issues often associated with international procurement.
“We want to work with countries like China in domesticating the production of military equipment, both kinetic and non-kinetic. This will eliminate delays and bureaucratic hurdles associated with external procurement,” Tuggar said, emphasising the importance of self-reliance in the defence sector.
Wang Yi, who is currently on a week-long tour of Africa, reaffirmed China’s commitment to supporting African nations in addressing their security challenges. He pledged a CN¥1 billion military assistance package to help improve peace and security across the continent.
The package includes training for 6,000 military personnel and 1,000 police officers from various African countries, including Nigeria.
“China will firmly support Africa in strengthening peace and security capacity building. We will work with Africa to establish a partnership for implementing the Global Security Initiative, or GSI, and make it a fine example of GSI cooperation,” he said.
“We will work to advance the partnership action for common security and provide CN¥1bn of grants in military assistance to Africa and help train 6000 military personnel and 1000 police and law enforcement personnel for African countries.
“China will also continue to support the building of the African standby force and the rapid response forces and support African countries in carrying out counter-terrorism peacekeeping operations. China will firmly support Africa in safeguarding its legitimate rights and interests, practising true multilateralism and not letting power politics and bullyism (sic) find their place in Africa,” Wang added.
