Nigeria, Bulgaria set to sign MoU — minister

The Minister of Defence, retired Maj.-Gen. Bashir Magashi, says Nigeria and the Republic of Bulgaria will soon sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on defence cooperation.

Magashi disclosed this when the Bulgarian Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Nigeria, Yanko Yordanov, paid him a courtesy visit on Wednesday in Abuja.

The Special Assistant to the Minister on Media and Publicity, Mohammad Abdulkadri, made this known in a statement on Wednesday.

Magashi said the bilateral relations between Nigeria and Bulgaria spanning over five decades was long enough to snowball into stronger defence cooperation, especially now that Nigeria was confronting internal security threats.

He said that even though the time was ripe for the two countries to put in place a workable MoU, there was the need to fulfill all legal requirements diplomatically.

The minister disclosed that the proposal was being transmitted to the Ministry of justice for perusal, adding that the technical inputs were being made.

According to him, the processes and procedures that the documents are being subjected to requires due diligence that will bring out the best in safeguarding interests of both nations.

Earlier, the Bulgarian Ambassador, Yordanov commended the minister for his desire for the defence bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

Yordanov said the signing of the MoU would deepen the existing exchange of military trainings and explore other critical areas of defence cooperation between Nigeria and Bulgaria.

He used the opportunity to invite Nigeria to the forthcoming Bulgarian military exhibitions in 2022, saying the event would showcase an array of new military technologies and modern weaponry developed by the Bulgarian Armed forces.