EU pledges €20m in defence support to Nigerian military

The European Union has pledged €20 million in defence assistance to the Armed Forces of Nigeria under the European Peace Facility. The proposed support was discussed during a meeting between Defence Minister Christopher Musa and the EU Ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Gautier Mignot, at the ministry’s headquarters in Abuja.

Leah Katung-Babatunde, the minister’s Special Assistant on Media, disclosed this in a statement on Saturday, October 17. She said an EU technical delegation would visit Nigeria in November to agree on the details of the assistance. The meeting also reviewed Nigeria-EU security cooperation and bilateral defence arrangements. Mignot commended Musa’s efforts to improve security and invited him to a meeting of defence ministers in Brussels later in the year.

Musa thanked the EU for its support and reaffirmed President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to protecting lives and promoting national development. He said the armed forces and other security agencies were gradually restoring relative peace in troubled areas, although highway kidnappings and attacks on isolated communities remained challenges.

The minister said Nigeria was awaiting the delivery of 10 attack helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles and other military equipment to strengthen security operations. He also identified the shrinking Lake Chad Basin, which supports more than 50 million people, as a source of instability.

Musa said preventing terrorists from using islands in Lake Chad as holding areas remained a key operational priority for the Multinational Joint Task Force. On disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration, he said the programme would prioritise victims, including military personnel affected by the conflict.