Gen. Christopher Musa (ret.) is the Minister of Defense. He says that Nigeria and Türkiye have agreed to send 200 Nigerian Special Forces to Türkiye right away for training.
Musa said this in an interview on the sidelines of the 5th Antalya Diplomacy Forum (ADF2026) in Antalya, Turkey, on Saturday. He had just talked to his Turkish counterpart, Yasar Guler.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) says that world leaders, ministers, diplomats, and others are at the three-day forum that started on Friday and is called “Mapping Tomorrow, Managing Uncertainties.”
The minister said that after the agreement, Türkiye would send 200 members of Nigeria’s Special Forces to train, and they would be sent back to Nigeria right away.
“We have a deal for training Special Forces. As soon as I get back, we are sending 200 Special Forces trainees from Turkey here to train.
“We will keep doing a lot.” There will be activities. Later this year, the first exercise will take place. He said, “So, in many areas of defense, we will work together.”
The minister also said that Nigeria and Türkiye had agreed to work together to make military equipment and share military technology.
Musa said that Nigeria and Türkiye had come a long way by working together over the years. He also said, “Since 1960, Türkiye has been like family to Nigeria.”
He said that Türkiye has a lot of experience in defense that Nigeria could learn from by sharing experiences.
“I met with the Turkish Minister of Defense and we talked about a lot of ways to make our defense relationship better.
“Turkey has made huge strides in making military equipment.
“Nigeria is still growing, and we’ve agreed to work together so that we can co-produce some of these things,” he said.
The minister said that Nigeria had been fighting insurgency in an asymmetric way for about 17 years, while Türkiye had been fighting terrorism in a similar way for 40 years.
He went on to say, “Because of that, we will start training, making things, and getting better at our defense, industrial production, and the exchange of officers and soldiers.”
NAN says that the yearly event also had panel discussions and sessions on a wide range of topics influenced by current global political, economic, environmental, and technological trends in defense and security.
There were people from about 150 countries at the forum, including 5,000 decision-makers, 20 heads of state and government, 40 foreign ministers, 60 invited foreign media, and diplomats, among others.
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