Nigeria and the Republuc of Niger have signed a deal to boost their security cooperation, the Nigerian military said yesterday, despite tensions between the neighbours since a coup in Niger a year ago.
“Both parties reaffirmed their commitment to resuming and strengthening collaboration, to ensure regional stability and security,” a Nigerian military statement said, after the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) by the nations’ Defence Chiefs in Niamey, Niger’s capital, on Wednesday.
Ties between the two countries soured after Niger’s junta toppled the immediate-past President, Mohamed Bazoum, and the July 2023 coup has also split the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), raising questions about the fight against Islamist violence in the region.
The two parties said ECOWAS had failed to help them tackle Islamist violence, signing a military agreement to form the Alliance of Sahel States – a parallel body.
Niger has remained in a Nigeria-led multinational joint task force fighting Boko Haram in the Lake Chad region but has kept its activities to a minimum.
The deal signed this week, “reaffirmed its readiness to resume active participation in security cooperation under the Multinational Joint Task Force”, the Nigerian statement said.
