The Federal Government of Nigeria has said that security agencies have made a lot of progress in suppressing criminality in the last month. The Minister of Police Affairs, Muhammad Dinyadi, spoke with the Canadian High Commissioner, James Christoff, on August 17, 2022 at a meeting. The minister assured that Nigeria’s situation would be improved within the next three to five months due to sustained assault against criminals. He said, “we are doing the best that we can to ensure that we face the issue. We will hit them with the language they understand.”
Dinyadi solicited the Canadian government’s support as well as that of other countries on the exchange of intelligence. The minister hailed Canada for its contributions to Nigeria and partnership with the Nigerian Police Force over the years. He added that the government is “ever ready” for a collaboration on intelligence gathering, training, technological improvement, education, and others. In his address at the meeting, the Canadian high commissioner said that both Nigeria and Canada have had a broad relationship and are witnessing growth in relations.
Canada has a number of collaborations with Nigeria.
This is not the first time that Nigeria will be partnering with Canada. This is not the only time that Nigeria collaborated with the Canadian government. Nigeria and Canada have bilateral relations, trade relations, partnership on development, peace and security operations, and also working with multilateral organizations. In regards to the partnership on development, Canada is committed to working with Nigeria to reduce extreme poverty and build a more peaceful, inclusive and prosperous society.
Between 2020 and 2021, Canada’s development assistance to Nigeria reached $125 million. The bilateral development assistance in Nigeria aligns with Nigeria’s Medium-Term National Development Plan (2021 to 2023). It aims to achieve human dignity, including sexual and reproductive health and rights; growth that works for everyone; and gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. Canada also contributes to development results through its support to multilateral, humanitarian, Canadian and international organizations. Many of these organizations, such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, with some of their largest programs located in Nigeria.
Canada also provides security assistance in Nigeria.
Canada provides security assistance to Nigeria through different programs. One is the Weapons Threat Reduction Program, which aims to strengthen capacities to prevent, detect, and respond to biological threats. Another is the Counter-Terrorism Capacity Building Program (CTCBP), through which Canada is committed to preventing and responding to the threat of terrorism and violent extremism. This includes nine priority sub-Saharan African countries, which includes Nigeria. Canada also provides regional technical assistance, which includes cooperation on border control management and migration.
To develop effective solutions and responses to the most pressing global challenges today, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, Canada and Nigeria work closely together in multilateral fora, including the Commonwealth, Global Counter Terrorism Forum, International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the International Criminal Court (ICC), Open Government Partnership (OGP), the United Nations (UN), the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and the World Trade Organization (WTO). In 2022, for example, the Canadian government donated 2.6 million doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines in Nigeria.
Christoff assures that Nigeria-Canada relationship will remain good.
The commissioner recalled that his home country has been helping Nigeria to address security issues, economic development and more. He said, “I want to extend our thanks on behalf of the mission for the support we received from the Nigeria Police Force. We will continue to have a very good relationship in terms of exchange of information.” With this, Nigeria will benefit immensely from Canada’s support. Nigeria will, in turn, also reciprocate in terms of more partnerships that will be mutually beneficial to both parties.
Related Link
Canada-Nigeria relations: Website
