UK to help Nigeria with security.

The British Prime Minister pledges to help improve our response to terrorist attacks and the Boko Haram menace.

The British Government will support Nigeria in its fight against terrorism and other activities that threaten security, British Prime Minister, David Cameron, said on Tuesday in Lagos.

Cameron made the pledge at a news conference after a meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan and the business community. He said that insecurity in Nigeria could affect the British economy.

“Britain sees Nigeria as a country with massive potential which should not be allowed to be overtaken by terrorism and other acts capable of breaching peace and security,” he said. “Because of common areas of interest, Britain would partner with Nigeria in fighting terrorism in any form.”

The prime minister said that he led a delegation to Nigeria to discuss areas of business and investment cooperation between both countries. He said that trade relations between both countries was impressive at the moment, and hoped that it would be better by 2014.

He announced plans by the British Government to also support Nigeria in realising the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on health, adding that the British Government would equally support Nigeria in its fight against corruption.

President Jonathan said at the event that some Nigerians were frustrating their country’s efforts at checking insecurity.

“We need to deal with the situation now, and we are going to work with other countries to achieve our aim,” he said. “We will continue to work with the British Government because we have common interest that must be protected.”

Jonathan also appealed to the British Government to support Nigeria in its struggle for representation in the UN Security Council, and gave the assurance that Nigerian would continue to have cordial trade relations with Britain.

Need to clean up media

Earlier in the day, Cameron was asked about the phone hacking scandal during his stop at the Lagos Business School. He said that wrongdoing in the media needed to be tackled and allegations of police corruption investigated.

However, he defended his two-day trip to Africa, saying that he was focusing on priorities like boosting business and fighting crime.

"I just would want to give this reassurance to people that back at home...this does consist of big problems, but we are a big country and we're going to sort them out," he told reporters.

"At the same time we're not going to take our eye off the ball on getting our economy to grow, getting jobs for our people, making sure we've got..immigration and welfare policies and doing all the things that frankly the British people are crying out for their government to get on with."