ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

By Gloria Ikibah

Nigeria and Thailand have agreed to strengthen their longstanding diplomatic ties and expand cooperation in trade, agriculture, investment, technology, security and other areas of mutual interest.

The commitment was made at the inaugural Nigeria-Thailand Bilateral Consultations Meeting held in Abuja.

The meeting brought together senior officials from the foreign ministries of both countries and provided an opportunity to review bilateral relations, discuss regional and global developments and identify practical areas for closer cooperation.

The Nigerian delegation was led by Ambassador Grema Garba, Director, Regions Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, while the Thai delegation was led by Mrs Sirilak Nyom, Deputy Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The consultations also marked an important step in implementing the Memorandum of Understanding on the Establishment of Bilateral Consultations, signed during the visit of Thailand’s then Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister to Nigeria in 2023.

Nigeria and Thailand established diplomatic relations in 1962 and, at the meeting, both sides reaffirmed the cordial and mutually beneficial nature of their relationship.

Nigeria highlighted opportunities for increased cooperation in trade and investment, agriculture and food security, energy, manufacturing, tourism, healthcare, technology and technical cooperation.

Both countries also acknowledged their strategic positions as gateways to their respective regions, with Nigeria offering access to the African market and Thailand providing a gateway to Southeast Asia and the wider Asian market.

Agriculture emerged as one of the key areas of interest, with Nigeria expressing interest in Thailand’s experience in rice production, cassava processing, aquaculture, agricultural machinery and food processing.

The two sides also explored opportunities for increased Thai investment in Nigeria’s agricultural value chains.

Other sectors identified for greater economic cooperation included agro-processing, oil and gas, renewable energy, manufacturing, mining, healthcare, tourism, ICT and infrastructure.

The consultations further considered the possible operationalisation of the Joint Trade Committee and measures to encourage greater private-sector participation and make trade and investment between both countries easier.

Visa and consular matters also featured prominently during the meeting, with Nigeria raising concerns about visa procedures affecting Nigerian businesspeople, investors, students and tourists travelling to Thailand.

Nigeria called for greater transparency, efficiency and predictability in the visa application process.

The two countries also discussed migration management, human trafficking, migrant smuggling, protection of nationals, repatriation and prisoner-transfer arrangements.

On security, Nigeria and Thailand agreed on the need to strengthen cooperation against drug trafficking, human trafficking, cybercrime, online scams and other forms of transnational organised crime.

Thailand highlighted its existing cooperation with Nigeria’s National Drug Law Enforcement Agency and the proposed Memorandum of Understanding on narcotic drug control and suppression.

It also introduced the SHIELD database as a tool for sharing information on scams and human trafficking, while expressing readiness to strengthen cooperation in intelligence sharing, digital forensics, law-enforcement coordination and capacity building.

The two countries equally welcomed opportunities for expanded technical cooperation through the Thailand International Cooperation Agency (TICA), including training, scholarships and institutional partnerships.

The areas identified for such cooperation include agriculture, food innovation, climate resilience, renewable energy and digital technology.

On international affairs, Nigeria and Thailand reaffirmed their commitment to multilateralism, international peace and security, regional integration and a rules-based international order.

Both countries supported comprehensive reform of the United Nations Security Council to ensure more equitable representation for Africa and stronger participation of developing countries in global decision-making.

Nigeria also welcomed Thailand’s Thailand-Africa Initiative and expressed its readiness to support stronger Thai engagement with the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

The two sides exchanged views on regional developments, including insecurity in West Africa and the Sahel, stressing the importance of dialogue, confidence-building and coordinated responses to emerging security challenges.

They further agreed to continue consultations on cooperation within multilateral organisations and mutual support for candidates seeking positions in international institutions.

At the end of the meeting, both sides expressed satisfaction with the outcome and pledged to turn the discussions into concrete programmes and deliverables.

Thailand also indicated its readiness to host the second round of the Nigeria-Thailand Bilateral Consultations in Bangkok on a mutually agreed date and expressed interest in advancing outstanding bilateral agreements.

Nigeria, in turn, reaffirmed its commitment to working closely with Thailand to deepen their longstanding friendship and expand cooperation across economic, agricultural, technological, security, consular, developmental and multilateral areas.

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

The Bauchi State Police Command has released 16-year-old Jennifer Joseph, a Christian teenager from Adamawa State, to her parents following weeks of controversy over her custody and disputed religious identity.

Jennifer was released to her parents on Monday after extensive deliberations at the Bauchi State Police Command, SaharaReporters has learnt.

The development followed sustained public attention and extensive reporting by SaharaReporters on the circumstances surrounding the teenager, who became the centre of a dispute involving her parents, the Bishara Dole Christian Ministry and an Islamic Da’awah group in Bauchi.

Reverend Mohammed Mohammed of The Gospel of Christ Must Be Preach International Ministry, popularly known as Bishara Dole, confirmed Jennifer’s release to SaharaReporters on Tuesday.

Mohammed, however, disclosed that the police had detained Rev. Badamasi, a staff member of the Bishara Dole ministry, over an allegation that he molested Jennifer while transporting her from her family home in Adamawa State to the ministry in Bauchi.

He described the allegation as unfounded and “laughable,” while insisting that the matter should be investigated properly.

Jennifer’s release comes after a series of controversial developments that had left her parents stranded in Bauchi while seeking to regain custody of their daughter.

The latest development has now introduced another layer to the controversy following the detention of Rev. Badamasi.

According to Reverend Mohammed, the Bishara Dole staff member was detained over an allegation that he molested Jennifer while accompanying her from Adamawa to Bauchi in a commercial bus.

Mohammed rejected the allegation, describing it as “laughable” and insisting that the ministry would not be deterred by what he considered attempts to discredit its members.

SaharaReporters could not independently establish the circumstances surrounding Badamasi’s detention or the allegation against him.

The development is also significant because earlier reports had documented claims by Bishara Dole that allegations of child molestation had been made against the ministry as part of what Mohammed described as an attempt to discredit the Christian organisation.

The ministry had called for an independent investigation into all allegations rather than allowing competing religious interests to determine Jennifer’s custody.

With Jennifer now released to her parents, attention is expected to shift to the circumstances surrounding the teenager’s custody, the competing claims over her religious identity and the allegations that emerged during the dispute.

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

. Tells global audience of experts how NDLEA uses asset recovery strategy in fight against drug trafficking

The Chairman/Chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), has told an international gathering of judges, law enforcement chiefs, financial intelligence experts and academics that the war against drug trafficking cannot be won by arrests alone, but must be matched by an equally aggressive pursuit of the proceeds of crime.
Marwa made this declaration while delivering a presentation titled “Criminal Property and the Criminal Process: How Can We Make It More Effective?” at the ongoing 43rd Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime, organised by the Centre for Geopolitics, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.

According to him, the effectiveness of the criminal process should not be measured only by the number of convictions secured. It should also be measured by whether crime is made unprofitable. A trafficker who loses his liberty but retains his fortune has not truly been defeated. His wealth can finance another operation, support his associates and sustain the criminal enterprise.

“The ultimate objective must therefore be to deny criminals the proceeds of their crime, promptly, and lawfully while preserving the value of the property. Nigeria, through the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, will continue to strengthen this approach.”

Addressing the session chaired by the Honourable Judge Wendy Tien, the NDLEA boss said arresting a trafficker without dismantling his fortune was like “pruning a weed at the stem while leaving its roots undisturbed,” warning that such wealth simply resurfaces “under a different name, through a different front company, in a different jurisdiction.”
He outlined six practical strategies the NDLEA has deployed to strengthen asset recovery, anchored on the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act 2004, the Proceeds of Crime (Recovery and Management) Act 2022, and the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022.

He cited the forfeiture of the Hook Hotel, a property linked to a fugitive drug suspect, which was recovered through non-conviction-based forfeiture and sold for $4.2 million, with proceeds paid into the Federal Government’s forfeited assets account domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria; proof, he said, that a fugitive “cannot simply outrun the process and retain the benefit of his crime.”
Marwa also disclosed that NDLEA investigators and prosecutors are now embedded together from the inception of cases, a reform that has shortened the interval between arrest and the securing of restraint orders. He revealed that last month alone, the Agency froze bank accounts worth over $7 million and secured interim forfeiture orders covering multibillion-naira assets, including filling stations, multi-storey buildings and exotic vehicles linked to a fugitive methamphetamine syndicate.

On the landmark case of Nigerian billionaire and suspected drug baron Amadi Simon, arrested in Switzerland through a joint operation involving NDLEA, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and authorities in Switzerland, Greece and France, Marwa explained that three hotels linked to the suspect were placed under professional asset managers rather than shut down, to preserve their value as going concerns pending the outcome of trial.

He further highlighted the Agency’s use of provisions on unexplained wealth and living beyond one’s legitimate means as a powerful investigative trigger, and the interlocutory sale of perishable and depreciating assets to protect their value ahead of final judgment.
He noted that these efforts have now been institutionalised within Nigeria’s National Drug Control Master Plan 2026–2030, ensuring that financial disruption of drug cartels remains a sustained national priority rather than a series of isolated cases.
Distilling these experiences into three guiding principles: speed over sequence, preservation of value, and institutionalization, Marwa acknowledged that challenges remain, particularly around delays in mutual legal assistance, limited forensic accounting capacity, and the need to balance the rights of accused persons with the State’s duty to preserve assets pending trial. He called for faster international cooperation mechanisms and stronger cross-border recognition of non-conviction-based forfeiture orders.
He thanked the Centre for Geopolitics, the organisers of the Symposium, and Judge Tien for the platform, and reaffirmed NDLEA’s readiness to deepen partnerships with jurisdictions and institutions committed to dismantling the financial architecture of drug trafficking.