The United States government may have made a U-Turn in its hitherto held strong opposition to efforts of the federal government to access high military wares to aid fight against insurgency in the North East.
This stemmed from the latest discovery that the Headquarters of the United States Department of Defence, the Pentagon, has informed the US Congress of the sale of 12 Super Tucano A-29 ground attack aircraft and weapons to Nigeria to fight the Boko Haram insurgency.
The Pentagon communicated the sale of the 12 ground attack aircraft valued at $593m (N181bn) to the US Congress on Monday.
According to details gathered by Business Hilights, the deal is coming barely one month after the federal government denied series of reports by Amnesty International on war crimes by officers executing the war on terror in parts of North East. The report quoted Pentagon’s Defence Security Cooperation Agency as having made the announcement to the US legislature.
The Super Tucano A-29, “an agile, propeller-driven plane with reconnaissance and surveillance as well as attack capabilities, is made by Brazil’s Embraer.”
The US had in April, this year, agreed to sell high-tech aircraft to Nigeria to tackle the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East.
United States officials told the Associated Press that the Congress was expected to receive formal notification within weeks, setting in motion the deal with Nigeria.
They added that the arrangement would call for Nigeria purchasing up to 12 Embraer A-29 Super Tucano aircraft with sophisticated targeting gear.
The purchase will gulp about $600m, said the officials in April. They were, however, unauthorised to discuss the terms of the sale publicly and preferred anonymity on the diplomatic conversations.
The United States had before this new development, blocked Nigeria from acquiring the Super Tucano ground attack aircraft from Brazil in November, 2016 because of allegations of human rights violations against the Nigerian military.
US had relied on the Leahy Law which prohibits the US defence sector from providing military assistance to countries involved in human rights violations, but there are indications that reality on ground may have caused the sudden relaxation of certain parts of the law in favour of nations like Nigeria.
