11th July, 2014
The German Government has promised to support Nigeria in intelligence, police and military training to combat terrorism.
This was contained in a joint communiqué signed by Dr Martin Uhomoibhi, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the German State secretary, Dr Markus Ederer in Abuja on Thursday.
It said Germany also agreed to collaborate with Nigeria in crisis prevention and control of small arms and light weapons.
“Both countries were seized with the issue of terrorism and agreed that it is an international scourge rather than a national phenomenon.
“The countries recognised the importance of regional cooperation in combating the scourge and the need to address the proliferation of arms and light weapons in West Africa,” it added.
On multilateral issues, the communiqué noted that Nigeria and Germany agreed to continue to support each other’s candidates at the UN Security Council and the entire UN system.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that Germany’s last term as a non-permanent member of the Security Council ended on Jan. 1, 2013.
The country has indicated interest to bid for the coveted Security Council slot in 2019.
Later, Ederer told reporters that both countries deliberated extensively on how to strengthen efforts by regional blocs such as ECOWAS to combat terrorism.
“We also discussed how we can work on banning, destruction and suppression of small arms and light weapons. So there are a number of areas where we offered our support and we will look more closely into the details,” he said.
Ederer admitted that his government had yet to redeem a promise to set up projects to support families and communities affected by the April 14 kidnap of school girls in Chibok, Borno.
“We are discussing with stakeholders here on a project to help the traumatised families. We have not concluded the project yet and I think you will have to wait a little bit until we have the results,” he said.
Last month, the German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steamier offered to establish the project to help victims of insurgency in the north-eastern part of the country.
In June, the UN refugee agency said about 650,000 Nigerians had been displaced as a result of Boko Haram attacks on civilians in north-east Nigeria.