By ZAKAA Lazarus
The Minister of Defence, Gen. Christopher Musa (rtd), has reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to deepening military relations with the United States, particularly in counter-terrorism.
The Special Assistant (Media) to the Minister, Leah Katung-Babatunde, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.
Leah said Musa spoke while receiving the Commander, US Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF), Maj. Gen. Matthew Brown, on official working visit to the Ministry.
The visit aimed to review ongoing joint security initiatives and formulate a result-oriented strategic framework for future collaboration.
Musa thanked the US for sustained partnership, noting that collaborative operations in the North-East, especially around Lake Chad Basin, have boosted troop morale.
To build on gains, he listed priority areas for enhanced cooperation to include specialised joint training for Special Forces, intelligence sharing and capacity building, enhanced border surveillance, Counter-IED support and modernisation of defence infrastructure.
In his remarks, Brown extended early Independence Day felicitations to Nigeria and thanked Nigeria for decades-long military-to-military relationship advancing common security objectives.
He highlighted successful counter-terrorism engagements against ISIS-affiliated groups in Africa and commended troops involved.
Reaffirming the nature of US engagements after the departure of soldiers of the Combined Special Task Force that operated in Bauchi area, Brown emphasised that US military activities in Nigeria are temporary and focused on institutional support and collaboration.
Describing the bilateral relationship as strategic and grounded in mutual trust, Brown said his visit was to understand Nigeria’s defence priorities to align broader US support and strengthen intelligence sharing.
