Retired General Christopher Musa, the Minister of Defense, said that Nigeria and Turkey have agreed to send 200 Nigerian Special Forces to Turkey right away for training.
Musa said this in an interview at the 5th Antalya Diplomacy Forum (ADF2026) in Antalya, Turkey, yesterday, after talking with his Turkish counterpart, Yasar Guler, according to NAN.
The meeting, which started on Friday and lasts for three days, is called “Mapping Tomorrow, Managing Uncertainties.” It is attended by international presidents, ministers, and diplomats, among others.
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 an arrangement for training Special Forces. Türkiye has agreed to give us 200 spots for Special Forces trainees. As soon as I go back, we will send them here to train.
“We will keep doing a lot. There will be activities. Later this year, the first exercise will take place. “We’re going to work together in a lot of areas of defense,” he stated.
The minister also said that Nigeria and Türkiye had committed to work together to make defense equipment and share military technology.
Musa noted that Nigeria and Türkiye had come a long way by working together over the years. He also remarked, “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 spoke with the Turkish Minister of Defense, and we talked about a lot of ways to make our defense cooperation better.
“Türkiye has made huge strides in making military equipment.
He remarked, “Nigeria is still growing, and we have agreed to work together so that we can make some of these things together.”
The minister said that Nigeria has been conducting asymmetric warfare against insurgency for roughly 17 years. Türkiye has been fighting terrorism for 40 years, which is similar.
He went on to say, “Because of that, we will move on to training, production, and making our defense better, as well as exchanging officers and soldiers.”
The yearly event also had panel discussions and workshops on a wide range of issues that were influenced by current events in global defense and security, as well as politics, the economy, the environment, and technology.
The forum had people from over 150 countries, including 5,000 decision-makers, 20 heads of state and government, 40 foreign ministries, 60 invited international media, and diplomats, among others.
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