Nigeria Partners Türkiye to Train 200 Special Forces Personnel

The Minister of Defence, Gen. Christopher Musa (retd.), has announced that Nigeria and Türkiye have finalised an agreement for the immediate deployment of 200 Nigerian Special Forces personnel to Türkiye for advanced military training.

Musa disclosed this on Saturday during an interview on the sidelines of the 5th Antalya Diplomacy Forum (ADF 2026) in Antalya, following high-level talks with his Turkish counterpart, Yaşar Güler.

According to a news source, the three-day forum—themed “Mapping Tomorrow, Managing Uncertainties”—commenced on Friday and has drawn participation from world leaders, ministers, and diplomats.

The minister said Türkiye has already approved a training quota for the Nigerian personnel, noting that the Special Forces will be deployed without delay upon their return to Nigeria, as part of ongoing efforts to strengthen the country’s defence capacity.

“We have a Special Forces training agreement. Türkiye has agreed to give us 200 Special Forces trainees, so as soon as I return, we are sending them here for training.

“We will continue to do a lot. There will be exercises. The first exercise is coming up later in the year. So, in so many areas of defence, we are going to work together,” he said.

The minister also disclosed that Nigeria and Türkiye had both agreed on joint defence equipment production and the transfer of military technology.

Musa said that Nigeria and Türkiye had come a long way, working together over the years, adding that, “since 1960, Türkiye has been like family to Nigeria.”

According to him, Türkiye has a lot of defence experience from which Nigeria could learn through shared experiences.

“I’ve had a meeting with the Turkish Minister of Defence, where we shared a lot of ideas on how to improve our relationship, defence-wise.

“Türkiye has improved dramatically in the production of military hardware.

“Nigeria is still developing, and we have agreed that we are going to partner together so that we have a co-production of some of these items,” he said.

The minister noted that while Nigeria had been fighting asymmetric warfare against insurgency for about 17 years, Türkiye has had a similar experience of fighting against terrorism for 40 years.

He added, “Because of that, we will move into training, production, and improving on our defence, industrial production, and exchange of officers and soldiers.”

It would be recalled that Gen. Christopher Musa, and the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Sunday Aneke, visited ASELSAN, Türkiye’s leading defence electronics company last January as Nigeria explores areas of military cooperation and technology partnership.

This was stated by security consultant and counter insurgency expert, Zagazola Makama, in a statement on his official X account on Thursday morning.

According to Makama, Musa and Aneke inspected the defence systems at ASELSAN on the sidelines of President Bola Tinubu’s official visit to Türkiye.

Gen. Musa, in a statement made available on Thursday, said they were received by Türkiye’s President of Defence Industries, Mr Haluk Görgün.

According to him, ASELSAN specialises in military communications, radar, surveillance and electronic systems for land, air and naval forces.