UK Boosts African Stability and Security with £300 Million Investment

The United Kingdom Government has invested more than £300 million in delivering programmes and peacekeeping to bolster African nations’ stability and security last year, to the benefit of people in Africa and the UK.

This was made known in a press release issued on Friday by Senior Communications and Public Diplomacy Officer, Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office of the British High Commission in Nigeria, Atinuke Akande-Alegbe.

According to the statement, the Minister of State in the UK Cabinet Office, Baroness Lucy Neville-Rolfe DBE CMG, was in Nigeria to solidify the UK-Nigeria partnership and demonstrate the UK’s commitment to the security of the wider region.

It stated, “She will see first-hand the impact funding is having in Nigeria and how the two countries are tackling shared security challenges in West Africa, particularly the threat posed by cyber-attacks.

The visit comes days after the UK-Nigeria Security and Defence Partnership talks where the two countries reached agreements on cybersecurity, defence cooperation, counter-terrorism, human rights and civil-military cooperation.

As part of the investment, more than £15 million went to strengthening Nigeria’s security. which, as a result of the UK’s direct support, benefitted Nigerian and British nationals by detecting and seizing more than 3 tonnes of illegal drugs.

In North Eastern Nigeria, UK funding has also helped more than 500 people fleeing violent groups re-settle into communities. It supported vocational training, religious counselling, psycho-social support, drug counselling and numeracy and literacy lessons.

The UK and Nigeria’s cooperation on regional threats to stability included the contribution from the UK to UN efforts to stabilise communities in the Lake Chad Basin after a decade of violence by extremist groups. Almost 11 million people across Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger have been affected by this violence so the support provided is vital.

Speaking in Abuja, Minister of State Baroness Neville-Rolfe said, “The United Kingdom and Nigeria are firm security and economic partners. I am proud that, through the CSSF, the UK has been able to play such a valuable role in bolstering Nigeria’s security.