The Minister of Defence Bashir Magashi says Nigeria is opening up new areas of bilateral defence cooperation with Japan to get the country’s buy-in to mitigate the current insecurity.

Mr Magashi stated this when the Japanese Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Nigeria, Matsunaga Kazuyoshi, visited him on Thursday in Abuja.

The special assistant to the minister, Mohammad Abdulkadri, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday.

He said Nigeria would provide all requirements to fast-track the emergence of a mutually beneficial Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that would be a force multiplier to end insecurity in Nigeria.

He explained that both countries should tap into new diplomatic openings to rejig the existing cooperation, especially in technological innovations and transfer.

The minister called on the envoy to initiate the template for the proposed MoU that would meet national aspirations to end insecurity in the country.

The Japanese envoy, Mr Kazuyoshi, noted that Japan had developed a better approach for peace and stability in Africa. He added that Nigeria was the focal point of interest for the implementation plans.

Mr Kazuyoshi also mentioned that the proposed MoU would strengthen continuous security information exchange, training, and reconstruction assistance in the Northeast, surpassing the $14 million last year. 

(NAN)