Yusuf Tuggar, minister of foreign affairs, has dismissed the idea of engaging foreign mercenaries to tackle Nigeria’s security challenges.
Tuggar spoke in a press conference on Thursday at the State
House, Abuja, in the company of Wang Yi, his Chinese counterpart.
Tuggar’s remarks come amid a raging debate about foreign
powers meddling in Nigeria’s affairs following new partnerships with China and
France.
The minister said involving foreign fighters in local
security challenges is not the solution.
“Private military companies, as far as we are concerned, it
doesn’t matter whether they’re from north, south, east, west. We don’t think it
is going to provide the panacea,” he said.
“Nigeria has consistently proved effective in leading other
countries in our region, and I would even say, on the continent at large, in
addressing challenges to peace and security, and we do this whenever we partner
with other countries and have their support, including major powers that are
outside of our region, outside of Africa, and we appreciate that sort of
approach.
“And it’s not just a one-off thing. It’s not a fluke. It is
because of Nigeria’s place and position on the continent and in our region, and
that’s why we take a firm stand and say, ‘let us work together towards solving
our problems by ourselves’.
“Let us shun this idea of allowing others to come in to
solve our problems for us.”
The minister said Nigeria is rather interested in working
with China to domesticate the production of military equipment.
“This is what we’re looking for so that we don’t have to go
out looking to procure because of the delays and so many rules and regulations.
We need to be able to produce locally,” he added.
Tuggar said Nigeria will continue to work with countries
like China on a bilateral basis.
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