Abuja, Nigeria - Nigeria and India are to establish and train special military units to undertake high-risk anti-terrorism missions, the visiting Indian Vice Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Shiri Krishina Singh, indicated here Thursday.
Speaking during a visit to the National Defence College (NDC), Abuja, he said that India and Nigeria were facing similar problems of terrorist attacks, adding that both countries would jointly train their special forces on ways of tackling terror attacks.
PANA reports that the Nigerian Army, a few weeks ago, graduated 2,094 soldiers trained in basic counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency skills.
According to Lt.-Gen. Singh, India and Nigeria had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on economic and defence partnerships in 2007, saying that he was in Nigeria to strengthen military ties by enhancing training capabilities.
He said the Indian NDC and that of Nigeria have “reciprocal relationship”, disclosing that Indians will resume attending courses at the NDC Abuja because the two Colleges have similar curriculum.
The Commandant of the College, Rear Admiral Thomas Lokoson, said that an Indian officer will be admitted as participant in course 22 in September 2013. stating that only one Indian officer so far attended the Nigerian College in 1998 as participant of course 7.
Since then, no Indian officer has attended the College in spite of the existence of a bi-lateral agreement on military training between the two countries, he added.
Pana 01/03/2013