Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
The heroes on frontline of African terror war
Training for local forces to tackle jihadis
and IS affiliates in the wider region exploiting a lack of governance... which if unchecked could coagulate to form some kind of caliphate that is a surrogate of IS and if unchecked could then present a threat to both UK interests and conceivably the UK mainland.”
“One of the things I find most disturbing about this place is the coercion of very young, mainly girls, into being suicide bombers. We are here with a very small deployment that is very sustainable, that enables us to try and increase the capacity of the Nigerian army so they can deal with their own problems.
“The British military set up the Nigerian military. The Nigerian army is fundamentally founded on British lines, British doctrine, British ways of doing business.
“We have a big, big head-start here, because we talk the same military language. The Nigerian military trust us and have a degree of respect for the British military.”
Wing Commander John Rees, 54, of 5 Force Protection Wing, commands 50 RAF Regiment trainers at Kaduna International Airport.
Since 2014, they have trained 1,470 Nigerian Airforce Regiment troops to defend airbases against terrorism, helping to stem the jihadi tide.
He said: “By 2050, one in eight people walking the surface of the earth will have a connection with Nigeria. In helping the Nigerians combat this threat, we’re in turn enhancing our own security from the migration of terrorism.”
Asked if there are fears terror could come to the UK from Nigeria as it has from Libya, where Manchester-born arena suicide bomber Salman Abedi trained, he said: “I guess there is.
“It’s exactly the same as the seepage of terrorists from Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan. These tactics, techniques and procedures we see in these countries often do migrate and we’ve got our own security challenge in the UK. Its a big problem.”