Nigeria, Turkey have agreed to strengthen cooperation between the security agencies to counter terrorism.

President Muhammadu Buhari and Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday in Ankara, who made the agreement spoke at a joint news briefing after a closed door meeting.

Buhari said he was ‘‘very pleased’’ that the defence ministers of both countries held extensive discussions on developing new strategies for counter-terrorism.

According to him, they are very pleased with the progress of the meeting so far and were going to wait for the details of meetings between the two countries.

Buhari said they would as a result of the meeting between the ministers and officials of both countries strengthen rapidly whatever their recommendations were.

Commenting on the degradation of Boko Haram in Nigeria, the President said the improved security situation in the North East was an eloquent testimony to the efforts of his administration in combating terrorism since he came into office in May twenty-fifteen.

According to Buhari, they were very surprised and disturbed by the claim made by Boko Haram on what they have been getting from ISIS, saying they know they would be able to contain them and they had proven that they can do it.

The President said they also discussed the prospects of increasing their bilateral trade, which had exceeded 779 million dollars in the first eight months of 2017.

In his remarks, Erdogan said Nigeria had great potentials and remained “a global actor in terms of economy, demographics and its peacekeeping records.”

He indicated that Turkey was interested in investing in Nigeria’s electricity, refineries and gas sectors, adding that increasing the flights between Turkey and Nigeria would further improve commercial and people-to-people relationships.

On the fight against terrorism, the Turkish leader said: ‘‘there is no difference between Boko Haram, Fethullah Terrorist Organisation or Daesh (ISIS), which have all killed, inflicted pain and hardship on innocent people.

‘‘All of these organisations are hordes of murderers that feed on the innocent people, and in the fight against terrorism, we will stand with our Nigerian friends, and we are ready to share our experience and provide all kinds of support.

‘‘We also expect the same cooperation from Nigeria in fighting against Fethullah that murdered 250 Turkish citizens in 2016.’