Turkish Maarif Foundation strengthens ties with Nigeria

By Rafiu Ajakaye

LAGOS, Nigeria

Turkish officials are visiting Nigeria to strengthen ties following President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to Ankara in October.

Cahit Bagci, a trustee of the Turkish Maarif Foundation, said they had met government officials and Buhari’s aides since arriving Monday.

The delegation hopes to forge close links in education, infrastructure, trade, agriculture, health and tourism, he told Anadolu Agency.

“We arrived in Abuja, Nigeria, to develop relations between our countries,” Bagci said.

“As you may remember, President Buhari and our President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had a meeting in Ankara and they declared at a press briefing and during bilateral meetings that both sides have the intention and are willing to develop relations in all sectors…

“I hope this first visit will help to develop relations between our countries. We had several meetings today with ministers, advisers to the president and some NGOs with a view to developing relations on education.”

The Maarif Foundation is a not-for-profit public body that runs schools outside Turkey. It has taken over schools around the world previously run by the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), which was behind last year’s defeated coup in Turkey.

Ismail Tamer, a lawmaker who heads the Turkey-Nigeria Parliamentary Friendship Group, also travelled to Nigeria. He said negotiations had been opened with Nigerian officials about tackling FETO.

Referring to FETO-linked schools in Nigeria, Bagci said they were not recognized by Turkey.

“Young people and children who graduate from these schools do not have the opportunity to study in Turkey,” he said. “We do not close schools, we want to take over to be able to manage them better.”

According to a report by the Turkish intelligence agency released in May, FETO controlled around 2,800 schools and educational institutions, companies, foundations, media outlets, NGOs, hospitals, language and culture centers in 170 countries before the coup bid.

In the year since it was founded, Maarif assumed control of 32 FETO-linked schools in Somalia, Guinea, Niger, Sudan and the Congo, according to Turkey’s Education Minister Ismet Yilmaz.