Nigeria And South Africa Boost Defence Cooperation

Nigeria And South Africa Boost Defence Cooperation
Collins Atohengbe, Pretoria

Relations between Nigerian and  South African defence forces are to be stepped up through a number of joint programmes, including staff training and personnel exchanges, as contained in the protocol of friendship between the two countries.

The Defence Adviser at the Nigerian High Commission in Pretoria , South Africa , Navy Commodore Jacob Ajani made this known at a reception to mark the 2011 Nigerian Armed Forces and Remembrance Day .

Commodore Ajani praised the level of relations between the Nigerian and South African defence forces which stemmed from the defence cooperation agreements between both nations in 1999.

He said that apart from visits by defence personnel, five officers of the Nigerian Armed Forces attended training courses  in South Africa in 2010. A South African delegation led by the Chief of South African Navy, Vice Admiral Johannes Mudimu was also in Nigeria to attend the Nigerian Navy Fleet Review exercise, organised to commemorate Nigeria 's Golden Jubilee Independence anniversary.

Commodore Ajani recalled that while a Nigerian Naval officer was in South Africa as part of the protocol on staff exchange, military staff from countries like Ghana , Lesotho , Egypt , Cameroon , Brazil , Pakistan and Italy had at one time or another trained at the prestigious Nigerian Command and Staff College , in  Kaduna , north central Nigeria .

The Defence Adviser called on his colleagues accredited to South Africa to work relentlessly at all levels for improved relations between Nigeria and South Africa .

The Armed Forces and Remembrance Day has its roots in the colonial ceremony in which all Commonwealth member nations simultaneously celebrate November 11 as POPPY DAY, tagged 11-11 each year, in honour of dead war veterans of the First and Second World wars and other military operations around the world.

Nigeria has since shifted its Armed Forces and Remembrance Day celebration from November 11 to January 15 th , in commemoration of the end of its civil war on the 15 th of January, 1970. 

Yinka