Turkey to train 200 Nigerian special forces

Turkey has announced to train 200 Nigerian special forces personnel as part of efforts to strengthen the country’s defence system.

Christopher Musa, Nigeria’s minister of defence, said the training is part of bilateral security agreements between both countries following discussions with Yaşar Güler, his Turkish counterpart.

Musa spoke on the sidelines of the 5th Antalya Diplomacy Forum (ADF2026) in Turkey on Saturday.

“We have a special forces training agreement. Türkiye has agreed to train 200 of our special forces personnel, so as soon as I return, we are sending them here for training,” a NAN report quoted the minister as saying.

“We will continue to do a lot. There will be exercises. The first exercise is coming up later in the year. So, in many areas of defence, we are going to work together.”

Musa added that Nigeria and Turkey had also agreed on joint defence equipment production and the transfer of military technology.

“I had a meeting with the Turkish Minister of Defence, where we shared many ideas on how to improve our relationship in defence matters,” the minister said.

“Türkiye has improved dramatically in the production of military hardware. Nigeria is still developing, and we have agreed that we are going to partner so that we can co-produce some of these items.”

Musa cited both countries’ ongoing fight against terrorism as a key reason for the collaboration. “Because of that, we will move into training, production, improving our defence industrial capacity, and the exchange of officers and soldiers,” he said.