President Goodluck Jonathan, on Monday at the State House, Abuja, met with the Defence and Foreign Affairs Ministers of Chad, Niger Republic, Cameroon and Benin Republic towards evolving a legal framework for the cross-border military operations with Nigeria...
The visiting ministers were accompanied to the Presidential Villa by Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Aminu Wali, and the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh.
A statement issued after the parley said Jonathan reiterated his belief that such collaboration was essential for success in the war against terrorism.
The cross-border military operations were approved by Jonathan and leaders of the neighbouring countries during their recent meeting in Niamey, capital of Niger Republic.
The President expressed his confidence that with the intensification of joint patrols, military operations and intelligence sharing by Nigeria and neighbouring countries as agreed by their leaders in Niamey last week, the activities of insurgents and other cross-border criminals would soon be drastically curtailed.
His words: “I am quite pleased with the decisions we took in Niamey to enhance and boost joint actions against Boko Haram and other cross-border criminals because we have to work together to defeat Boko Haram and other extremist groups in our sub-region.
“I believe if we cooperate more and monitor our borders closely, the movement of criminals and terrorists, as well as small arms and ammunition across our shared borders, will also be drastically reduced”.
The President said he was expecting the ministers to deploy their collective experience and professionalism in coming up with an effective action plan for the successful implementation of the decisions reached by the leaders of Nigeria, Chad, Niger, Cameroon and Benin Republic at their meeting in Niamey on October 7, 2014 where the leaders announced plans to step up the fight against Boko Haram.
A communiqué issued after the meeting said a command centre for a multinational force headed by a chief of staff will be in place by November 20.
The leaders also agreed to finalise the deployment of troops promised by member-states to form the multinational force within their national borders by November 1.
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