TO ensure better co-operation, the United Kingdom (UK) is to send its Brigade to West Africa, including Nigeria immediately after their withdrawal from Afghanistan, just as it okays Nigeria's peace mission in Mali.
The UK Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. David Richards, stated this at the weekend in Abuja during a courtesy call on his Nigerian counterpart Admiral Ola Ibrahim.
Gen. Richards said the meetings "are a framework for the long term, not just about Mali, so the message is we are coming back to the region as partners and as loyal friends".
Richards said the plan was to enable that both countries synergised for greater cooperation, adding "Mali is the immediate imperative but as we withdraw from Afghanistan, we would have resources to do more in the region and send a brigade to West Africa not to live here but be a contact point to help train you, play football matches...to rediscover what we use to have before we went to other regions."
Gen. Richards accompanied by the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Andrew Pocock, and other top UK military officers, said Nigeria and Britain shared an emotional relationship that is also hinged on mutual respect and understanding spanned over the years. And despite the many challenges that come with the crisis in Mali, "it is vital we have to resolve these issues on behalf of the sub-region and specifically in your (Nigeria) interest too so we are with you 150 per cent and we have to be transparent about how we solve it.
"Britain as a whole is committed to finding a lasting solution to this crisis but Transparency is very critical in this enterprise," he said.
On the new sphere of support, partnership and synergy with Nigeria, Gen. Richards agreed that it was a departure from what use to be where new security challenges/ threats evolve.
He said: "We would have to identify where Nigerian Forces have strength and where there are weaknesses and make sure we synthesis to deliver the right operation.
"I am of the opinion that command and control is very important and I think we can look at how we can best develop this aspects of our joint operations. How to exercise command and control using everything from radio through intelligence gathering, through staff training and all that", Gen. Richards stated.
The Guardian