A Memorandum of understanding between the Governments of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Republic of the Gambia on Military Cooperations has been signed at a brief ceremony held at the Ministry of Defence Headquarters Abuja.
The Minister of Defence Maj Gen Bashir Salihi Magashi (retd) and the Gambian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mohamadou Musa Njie who were the signatories for both countries agreed that the MoU could not have come at a better and more auspucious time than now especially when common threats of insecurities are to be jointly tackled.
After the ceremonial signing of the legal document and the symbolic exchange of the instrument of stronger fraternity in the spheres of the Military, the representatives of the two Countries pledged in their seperate speeches to operationalise the terms and conditions of the MoU.
Specific instances and references were made to the expectations from the newly formalised diplomatic ties between the two Countries.
They include, boosting of the hitherto existing joint Military manoeuvrability, operability as well as tactical and technical synergy.
Other areas enshrined in the MoU include enhanced networking in Intelligence sharing, capacity building and the need to embrace robust counter trans- national strategy to decisively clear the effrontery and the audacity of the adversaries threatening the corporate existence of the two coastal nations who share common Membership of African Union, ECOWAS and geographical similarities within the West African Sub-region.
It is also on record that Nigeria has been playing big brotherly roles to the Republic of the Gambia in stabilising her polity and resolving its electoral impasse in 2016.
Nigeria currently deployed over two hundred forces serving in the ECOWAS Mission in the Gambia, ECOMOG and presently enlisted the Gambian Military officers and personnel into various institutions in the country with prospects for more intake of candidates in the coming years as contained in the MoU.
