President Muhammadu Buhari and Turkish counterpart Recep
Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday in Ankara, Turkey, agreed to strengthen cooperation
between the security agencies of both countries to counter terrorism.
Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President
on Media and Publicity, in a statement issued in Abuja, said the two leaders
spoke at a joint press conference after a closed door 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 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,
President 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.
President Buhari said: ‘‘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 proven
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.’’
The President said they also discussed the prospects of
increasing their bilateral trade, which had exceeded 779 million dollars in the
first eight months of 2017.
‘‘There are a lot of potentialities in terms of investments
and a lot is being done in the educational and health sectors in Nigeria.
‘‘These will be strengthened and I assure you that Nigeria
is prepared to accept Turkish business people to come and explore more of
Nigeria’s potentialities,’’ the Nigerian leader said.
In his remarks, Erdogan said Nigeria had great potentials
and remained “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.
‘‘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 in 2016.
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