Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country. It has immense oil wealth, with companies such as Shell involved in extraction from the Niger Delta area. There is a British Military Advisory and Training Team based in Nigeria, providing training and some equipment for Nigerian personnel.
A 2020 Freedom of Information request from CAAT found that the UK provided police training to Nigeria in 2019. Details of the training has not been provided.
Nigerian forces have been regular attendees of UK arms fairs, including DSEI, which they most recently attended in 2019 and Security & Policing, which focuses on policing equipment, and which they last attended in 2019.
The UK has licensed £43 million worth of arms since 2015, including £19 million worth of military vehicles, almost £1 million of small arms. Not all equipment will be for police, although notes from DIT show that body armour, military helmets and weapon sights have all been sent for ‘law enforcement end use.’
According to a parliamentary answer from 2020, the UK provided military training to Nigeria in 2019 and 2020, including:
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International Urban Operations Instructors Course (2018/19)
- Defence Train the Trainer (2018/19)
- Building Integrity for Senior Leaders (2018/19)
- Urban Operations Instructor Course (2019/20)
- All Arms Basic Tactics Course (2019/20) (‘all arms’ refers to all branches of armed forces, not all weapons)
