Nigeria won’t hire foreign mercenaries to fight insecurity, says Tuggar

Yusuf Tuggar, minister of foreign affairs, has dismissed the idea of engaging foreign mercenaries to tackle Nigeria’s security challenges.

Tuggar spoke in a press conference on Thursday at the State House, Abuja, in the company of Wang Yi, his Chinese counterpart.

Tuggar’s remarks come amid a raging debate about foreign powers meddling in Nigeria’s affairs following new partnerships with China and France.

The minister said involving foreign fighters in local security challenges is not the solution.

“Private military companies, as far as we are concerned, it doesn’t matter whether they’re from north, south, east, west. We don’t think it is going to provide the panacea,” he said.

“Nigeria has consistently proved effective in leading other countries in our region, and I would even say, on the continent at large, in addressing challenges to peace and security, and we do this whenever we partner with other countries and have their support, including major powers that are outside of our region, outside of Africa, and we appreciate that sort of approach.

“And it’s not just a one-off thing. It’s not a fluke. It is because of Nigeria’s place and position on the continent and in our region, and that’s why we take a firm stand and say, ‘let us work together towards solving our problems by ourselves’.

“Let us shun this idea of allowing others to come in to solve our problems for us.”

The minister said Nigeria is rather interested in working with China to domesticate the production of military equipment.

“This is what we’re looking for so that we don’t have to go out looking to procure because of the delays and so many rules and regulations. We need to be able to produce locally,” he added.

Tuggar said Nigeria will continue to work with countries like China on a bilateral basis.