Nigeria, Cameroon eye joint efforts against terrorism

The Nigerian Defense Authority on Wednesday said it will meet with it Cameroonian counterpart in Abuja in furtherance of various efforts to stamp out the scourge of terrorism from the West Africa sub-region.

The three-day bilateral meeting would take place at the Defense Headquarters, said Maj.-Gen. Chris Olukolade, a Nigerian military spokesperson, in a statement reaching Xinhua.

He said the meeting would be hosted by the Nigerian Chief of Defense Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, and would have in attendance his Cameroonian counterpart and military delegation.

The forum was a follow-up to previous international and regional meetings to foster common ground in the fight against insurgency and terrorism.

The meeting would fashion out ways to strengthen existing working relationship and cooperation between the two nations' armed forces in the war.

According to Olukolade, the bilateral talk is expected to advance the collaboration to contain the activities of terrorists in the two countries through coordinated military operations along the borders.

The meeting between the two countries is coming on the heels of a similar parley of foreign ministers of Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Benin Republic, held on Monday in Abuja.

That meeting was to fashion appropriate legal framework for cross border military operations against the Boko Haram terrorists in the region.

Boko Haram has proved to be a major security threat in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, in the last five years.