Author: Aishat Ibrahim

Nigeria Ratifies Agreements With UAE On Financial Cooperation [2017]

President Muhammadu Buhari has signed nine different instrument of Ratification for international Agreements between Nigeria and other countries to boost financial cooperation and ease the repatriation of illicit funds which include Extradition Treaty between Nigeria and United Arab Emirates (UAE) targeted toward strengthening Nigeria’s anti-corruption campaign.

The President said that the agreements signed would enable both countries to take important steps toward strengthening their economies and security, charging all agencies with roles to play under the respective Treaties to ensure that they did that effectively to reap the full benefits of the agreements.

In his words:

“Today’s ceremony marks a very important milestone in our demonstration of sovereign capacity to fulfill our international obligations and take important steps for the benefit of our economy, security and the anti-corruption war within and outside Nigeria. I am happy to note therefore, that pursuant to a Memorandum presented to the Federal Executive Council by the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Council has approved the ratification of the said Agreements, thus paving the way for today’s ceremony. With this sovereign act, which has been replicated in the United Arab Emirates by their responsible authorities, we are now in a position to utilize these Agreements fully to foster cooperation between our respective authorities particularly for the purpose of prosecuting the anti-corruption campaign of this Government.’’

Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in January 2016 in Abu Dhabi signed six different agreements to enhance bilateral relations between them. The signing of the agreements on trade, finance and judicial matters was witnessed by President Muhammadu Buhari and the Crown Prince of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami and his counterpart in the United Arab Emirates, Sultan Bin Saeed Albadi signed the Judicial Agreements on Extradition, Transfer of Sentenced Persons, Mutual Legal Assistance on Criminal Matters and Mutual Legal Assistance on Criminal and Commercial Matters, which include the recovery and repatriation of stolen wealth.

President Buhari further observed that the signing of the agreements was in demonstration of the nation’s sovereign capacity to fulfil its international obligations and take important steps for the benefit of the economy, security and the anti-corruption war within and outside Nigeria.

Other legal instruments between Nigeria and UAE signed by the President included the Agreement on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters; Agreement on Mutual Legal Assistance in Civil and Commercial Matters and the Agreement on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons, the Charter for the Lake Chad Basin between Nigeria, Cameroun, Central African Republic, Libya, Niger and the Republic of Chad, African Tax Administration Forum Agreement on Mutual Assistance in Tax Matters, the World Intellectual Property Organisation Performances and Phonograms Treaty; The World Intellectual Property Organization Treaty on Audio-Visual Performances, the Marrakesh Treaty to facilitate access to published works for persons who are blind, visually impaired or otherwise were also signed by the President.

UK Deploys RAF Training Team For NAF [2017]

The British government has deployed a 66-person Short Term Training Team (STTT) from No 5 Royal Air Force (RAF) Lossiemouth to Nigeria for a six-week period to train the Nigerian Air Force Regiment.

The detachment, the third undertaken by 5 Force Protection Wing in a five-year programme, comes after a request by Nigeria’s Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar who  stated that the request was necessary to forestall possible attacks on the country’s airbases, to assist in capacity building for the Nigerian Air Force Regiment.

Speaking on the development, Abubakar said,

“Given the importance of bases in the airpower delivery matrix, it is not inconceivable to expect our adversaries to target our airbases. As a matter of fact, we have had an attack on one of our airbases in the recent past, and current intelligence reports keep highlighting the possibility of attacks on our bases. All these reinforce the need to emplace a robust base defence concept that is capable of providing guidance for responding to a wide range of situations that may threaten our bases.”

Similarly, the Officer Commanding 5 Force Protection Wing, Wing, Commander John Rees expressed the British government’s readiness to support Nigeria. He stated:

“We are delighted to be here again and, as always, humbled by the warmth of the Nigerian welcome. We are proud of our Royal Air Force heritage and the opportunity to represent our service in the Defence Engagement arena. Having already delivered the Train the Trainer package to 50 non-commissioned officers and commissioned officers, a further 250 students will now begin the Foundation Phase, bringing a total of around 300 Nigerian personnel to be trained across a mixture of ranks.”

The STTT is expected to deliver a training package which enables students to operate effectively in the Complex Air Ground Environment by understanding their role to provide security and Force Protection operations both inside and outside an air base. This forms a key part of a layered defence system in deterring and defeating an enemy away from the airfield while also assuring the internal security of a base. In addition, the RAF will give Nigerian commissioned and non-commissioned officers the opportunity to enhance their tactical leadership and planning skills.

The Programme, which will end by mid-July, will feature a demanding final exercise at a live airfield to validate the understanding of all skills taught in a realistic environment prior to the graduating students deploying to their first operational assignment in the Nigerian Air Force.

172 African Soldiers Complete Intensive Military Training In Nigeria

A total of 172 African soldiers, have completed a 21-week intensive military training which began on January 4, 2017 in Kaduna, the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

intensive military training

Captain Stephen T. Tarplah of the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) was one of nine commanders of the rank of Captain and their equivalent from other countries outside Nigeria who graduated from the Armed Forces Command and Staff College (AFCSC) of Nigeria in Jaji. The other eight military international students came from Botswana, Cameron, Republic of Congo, The Gambia, Ghana, Niger and Sierra Leone. They joined their Nigerian counterparts from both the Nigerian Navy and Nigerian Air Force.

The Nigerians, who numbered 163, comprised 91 Nigerian Army, 39 Nigerian Navy, 28 Nigerian Air Force, five non-military personnel from the Nigerian Intelligence Agency (NIA), Nigerian Defense Academy (NDA), Nigeria Prison Service (NPS), Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

Speaking at the graduation of Junior Course 83/2017,  the guest of honour; Chief of Air Staff (CAS) who was represented by the Chief of Policy and Plans, Headquarters, NAF, Air Vice Marshal James Gbum said the objective of the course is to develop the professional knowledge and understanding of selected officers of the armed forces in order to prepare them for increasing responsibilities, urging them to brace up to the likely challenges and measure up to them with courage, conviction and in the mist professional manner.

In his words:

“For the past 21 weeks, you have been thoroughly subjected to various demanding tasks that exposed you to several presentations, lectures, discussions, exercises and even tours outside the college which have been carefully put together for you to imbibe what General Douglas MacAuthur, a former Chief of Staff of the United States Army called ‘The Cardinal Virtues of a Soldier. for members of the Nigerian armed forces, your sense of judgement in applying these skills would even be more apparent now that we are confronting a lot of internal security challenges in the country, mist especially the menace of Book Haram and the renewed militancy in the Nigerian Delta.”

The Commandant of the college, Air Vice Marshal Suleiman Dambo, said the course is aimed at developing the command, analytical and communication skills of the students in order to equip them to effectively operate during single a service, combined or joint and multi-agency operations, adding that there had not been a comprehensive review of the college curriculum since 2002, hence the college embarked on a comprehensive review from 2016 to January, 2017 which has since been completed and provisional approval has been granted by the Defense Headquarters.

He stated that it is envisaged that the new curricula will better equip future graduates of the college with requisite professional military knowledge as well as the command and staff sills to handle contemporary operational requirements not only in Nigeria, but anywhere in the world.