The United Kingdom plans to send more than 35 military men to Nigeria to train Nigerian soldiers to battle Boko Haram in the Northeast.
Joe Abuku, the spokesperson of the British High Commission, revealed this in a statement.
It reads in part: “More than 35 personnel from the Second Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment (2 R ANGLIAN), will be shortly deploy to deliver infantry training to Nigerian military personnel preparing to tackle the extremist group in the north of the country.
“The 2 R ANGLIAN, based in Cottesmore, Rutland, provided support to the Armed Forces Nigeria throughout 2015, which included the deployment of Short Term Training Teams, and support to smaller training tasks to assist the resident British Military Advisory and Training Team – which has grown in size over the last year.
“Around 130 UK military personnel deployed to Nigeria on a wide range of training tasks last year.
“This included training in infantry skills, civil-military affairs, media operations, command and leadership, IED-awareness, and support to Nigerian military training schools and establishments.
“Almost 1,000 Nigerian military personnel have benefited from training to prepare them for counter-insurgency operations in northeast Nigeria, and the work by 2 R ANGLIAN, known as The Poachers, is now well-recognized across the AFN.
“The UK also supports a Nigerian intelligence and analysis cell focused on the northeast and based in Abuja, and nearly 30 UK Armed Forces personnel are deployed in Nigeria on an enduring basis in training and advisory roles.”
The latest aid was in line with the promise of the UK defence secretary, Michael Fallon, when he visited Nigeria in December 2015.
The UK has a resident British Military Advisory and Training Team (BMATT) in the African nation, which has grown in size since ex foreign secretary William Hague announced last summer that the country would increase its training and capacity building support to the Nigerian army to assist it counter the violent extremist sect known as Boko Haram.
