Turkey plans to establish defence production facilities and military training centres in Nigeria as part of a push to increase bilateral trade from its current $2bn to $5bn, the Turkish Ambassador to Nigeria, Mehmet Poroy, said on Monday in Abuja. The ambassador made the announcement during a press briefing marking the 66th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Poroy said the proposed defence production facilities would allow Turkey to move beyond supplying military equipment to supporting local manufacturing in Nigeria. He said the plan flows from agreements reached during President Bola Tinubu's visit to Turkey earlier in the year, when nine Nigerian ministers attended and nine agreements and memoranda of understanding were signed.
On military training, Poroy disclosed that 200 Nigerian special forces personnel were undergoing a two-month training programme in Turkey, with plans underway to establish a training facility in Nigeria. The ambassador said this would allow continuous training for the Nigerian Army with Turkish officer involvement rather than requiring all military personnel to travel to Turkey. Nigeria's military is already using Turkish attack helicopters and drones in operations against insecurity, particularly in northern Nigeria, Poroy noted. He said Turkey was willing to share its experience in combating terrorism with Nigeria, noting that his country had lost more than 40,000 people and spent billions of dollars in a 40-year fight against terrorism. Poroy stressed that terrorism required more than military solutions because of its economic and religious dimensions.
On economic ties, Poroy said the current trade volume of $2bn, including oil and gas, was inadequate given Nigeria's economic potential, describing the target of $5bn as the goal for bilateral trade. He noted that Turkey's total trade with African countries stood at about $37bn, while Turkish investments across Africa exceeded $10bn but remained below $1bn in Nigeria. The ambassador said he had visited the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry and chambers in Kano, Kaduna and Lagos to discuss expanding trade and investment. He added that the embassy was facilitating visa procedures for Nigerian businesspeople to encourage direct business engagement between both countries' private sectors.
On humanitarian cooperation, Poroy disclosed that the Turkish Government had provided food assistance to 3,000 internally displaced families in Adamawa State. He said Turkish non-governmental organisations, including the Turkish Religious Affairs Foundation, spent about $5m on humanitarian interventions in Nigeria over the last year, particularly food donations and meat distribution during Ramadan and Eid-el-Adha. The ambassador said Turkey would continue its humanitarian interventions, possibly through a more structured arrangement with Nigerian authorities to improve coordination.
Poroy traced historical ties between both countries to the 16th century, when the Ottoman Empire maintained diplomatic correspondence with the Kanem-Borno Sultanate. He said Ottoman archives showed that the Ottoman Sultan recognised the Kanem-Borno Sultanate's sovereignty and directed officials to treat its representatives as friends. The ambassador cited the Shitta-Bey Mosque in Lagos as another historical connection, noting that an Ottoman Sultan sent a representative to its opening ceremony towards the end of the 19th century. Poroy clarified that November 9, 1960, marked the elevation of diplomatic relations to ambassadorial level, barely a month after Nigeria gained independence on October 1, 1960.