By Inwalomhe Donald
Nigerian-Turkish relations have entered a new era. The two-day Turkey-Africa partnership summit came fast on the heels of a top-level business forum in October, 2021 that focused on investment and trade. The next phase of this fast-blossoming relationship is security, with a host of African leaders looking to buy up military hardware at cheaper prices and with fewer strings attached. Leaders and top ministers from 39 countries — including 13 presidents in attendance, with Erdogan. Ankara already has a military base in Somalia, and Morocco and Tunisia reportedly took their first delivery of Turkish combat drones in September.
Angola became the latest to express an interest in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) during Erdogan’s first visit to the southern African country in October. Turkey in August, 2021 also signed a military cooperation pledge with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who has been embroiled in a war with Tigrayan rebels for the past year. “The most important sector is the defence sector because this is a new asset. Turkey has pushed this sector a lot, especially drones, according to” Federico Donelli, an international relations researcher at the University of Genoa. Russia has been the dominant player on the African arms market, accounting for 49 percent of the continent’s imports between 2015 and 2019, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
But interest in Turkish weaponry is peaking. The TB2 Bayraktar model is in high demand after it was credited with swinging the fate of conflicts in Libya and Azerbaijan’s breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh in the past few years. The drones are made by the private Baykar company, run by one of Erdogan’s sons-in-law. “Everywhere I go in Africa, everyone asks about UAVs,” Erdogan boasted after a visit to Angola, Nigeria and Togo in October. At the end of the summit, the presidency said that Turkish technology, be it drones or even through the supply or manufacture of military ordnance in Nigeria, will surely quicken the process and efforts to rid the country of pockets of terrorists and the menace of kidnappers and bandits. How realisable is this? The Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey to Nigeria, Hidayet Bayraktar, has said Turkey will assist Nigeria in ending the insecurity bedevilling the country. Bayraktar, in this interview with Daily Sun in Abuja, said tapping from the experience of Turkey in battling terrorist organisations such as the PKK, the DHKPC, DAESH and the Feto terrorist organisation, the Republic of Turkey will replicate it in Nigeria in the fight against Boko Haram, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and other criminal elements. Bayraktar, who also spoke on the concluded Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit, said Turkey’s cooperation with African countries, particularly Nigeria, is a win-win situation for the benefit of both parties. As you know, I was over there as well at the Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit and there were heads of state invited to the summit itself. And this was the third one, the first one being in Turkey in 2008 and the second one in 2014, which held in Equatorial Guinea and the fourth one will be held in 2026 somewhere in Africa.
The theme of the summit itself was “Enhanced Partnership for Common Development and Prosperity.” There were 30 heads of state that were there, besides the foreign ministers and other prime ministers as well. His Excellency, Mr. Buhari, was with his delegation. So, besides the heads of state, there were the foreign ministers and, this time, we had invited the ministers of agriculture, education and health. On the margins of the summit, they had their own meeting in the field of education, in the field of health and agriculture. As you know, these are the main points for development, especially in Africa. So, these were the important issues that were discussed over there.
The aim of the summit was that Turkey is trying to have more relations, especially with the sub-Saharan countries, culturally, economically, politically and military-wise. And these are the things, which were discussed at the meetings. At the end of the day, it is a win-win position for both African countries and Turkey as well. And, for the last 20 years, the numbers of Turkish embassies on the continent were 12. But today, we have reached 43 embassies on the continent. This is one of the reasons you can see that we give so much importance to Africa as a continent. Turkey’s investments in Nigeria are definitely beyond the numbers and efforts are being made to increase the trade volume of the two countries. Nigeria wants sustainable partnerships that can be implemented quickly. “Recently, Turkey-Nigeria relations have made progress in various fields such as agriculture, construction, consumer products, education, oil and natural gas.” The current economic relations of the two countries have a great potential to improve and that Turkey imports petroleum, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and agricultural products from Nigeria, while Nigeria imports textiles, carpets, agricultural machinery and medical supplies from Turkey.
The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) has chosen Nigeria as the regional coordination center for its technical support in Africa, Adebayo emphasized, adding that Turkey is very active in the education sector through the establishment of various schools, including a university, in Abuja. Further cooperation can be made in sectors such as oil, natural gas, industry, agriculture and mining to increase the trade volume between Turkey and Nigeria. “Commercial promotion activities such as business and trade fairs to improve trade and investment relations can create investment opportunities for both countries. The African country’s minister said that the recent memorandums of understanding between Turkey and Nigeria in the field of the economy are an indication of progress in commercial activities between the two countries.
Strategic business council: Previously, during the Turkey-Africa Economic and Business Forum held in Istanbul in October, it was said that Nigeria’s exchange of goods with Turkey will rise dramatically from its current level of $2 billion (TL 33.76 billion). There are many Turkish companies in Nigeria, operating mainly in the construction, manufacturing and energy sectors. As of 2016, there were 50 Turkish firms operating in Nigeria whose total investment had amounted to $419.5m. Including the local partners’ shares, Turkish investment in Nigeria has amounted to a total of $620m. The two governments agreed to support each other in the fight against terrorism, human trafficking, drugs trafficking and arms trafficking.
Donald writes via