The European Union will give Nigeria €20m to help its Armed Forces fight insecurity, the Minister of Defence, General Christopher Musa (retd.), has announced.
The support will come under the European Peace Facility. An EU technical team will visit Abuja in November to agree on how the funds will be delivered.
Musa’s aide, Leah Katung-Babatunde, disclosed this in a statement on Saturday. It was titled “EU to Deliver €20m Defence Support to Nigerian Armed Forces”.
According to the statement, the minister received the EU Ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Gautier Mignot, and his delegation at his office at Ship House, Abuja.
The ambassador was on a working visit. The two sides discussed defence agreements and reviewed security cooperation between Nigeria and the EU. Talks centred on how the €20m would be delivered.
Musa thanked the EU for its continued backing of Nigeria’s security efforts. He also restated the Federal Government’s commitment to protecting lives and property.
He said peace was slowly returning to the country because of the work of the military and other security agencies.
However, the minister admitted that some threats remain. He named kidnapping on major highways and attacks on isolated communities as persistent problems. The government, he said, is working to address them.
