Nigeria to spend nearly $500m on 12 US fighter jets as Borno governor praises new Lafiya Dole commander

NIGERIA has paid the US a fresh sum of $496m for the purchase of 12 Super Tucano fighter jets to be used by the Nigerian Air Force in the ongoing military operations against Boko Haram in the northeast of the country.

Since 2009, Boko Haram has been waging war against the Nigerian state as it seeks to build an Islamic enclave governed by strict Sharia law.  Over the last three years, the Nigerian military has regained the initiative, however, as the purchase of hardware has equipped troops with the weaponry to launch successful offenses.

Defence minister retired Brigadier Mansur Dan-Ali, said that with the payment of the money, the US government will deliver the jets as soon as possible, after accepting the letter requesting the sale of the bomber aircraft. Speaking in Maiduguri, the minister, who insisted that the capacity of Boko Haram insurgents to carry out attacks had been completely neutralised, said US President Donald Trump had commended Nigeria’s military strength when they met at a recent security meeting in Saudi Arabia.

Recently, the minister had expressed concern over the stringent terms given by the US government for the sale of the aircraft, including the non-inclusion of Nigerian military personnel during their manufacture. However, he did not state yesterday if the terms had been renegotiated with the US before payment or if they had been relaxed.

Brigadier Dan-Ali said: “Gone are the days when our soldiers dropped their rifles and started running from the war front. Our gallant troops have successfully degraded the Boko Haram insurgents.

“Let me make it clear that currently, no single Nigerian territory is under the control of the Boko Haram terrorists. For instance, before the emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari, 21 of the 27 local councils of Borno State were under the total control of the insurgents but today, they are all liberated."

He added that currently, no Nigerian territory is under the insurgents, while the military has freed 30,000 people, mainly women and children held by Boko Haram. In addition, the minister said the government had acquired five units of caterpillar armoured mine-sweepers, new French patrol boats for the Nigerian Navy and two fighter jets from Pakistan.

Brigadier Dan-Ali also disclosed that many members of the Civilian Joint Task Force who had participated in pushing back the insurgents, may not be absorbed en masse into the Nigerian Army because of concerns over the federal character principle and other rigid eligibility requirements into the military. Meanwhile, the minister’s assertion that the Boko Haram terrorists had been defeated and territories in the northeast were completely liberated was challenged by the chairman of the Senate Committee on Defence, Senator Abubakar Kyari.

Senator Kyari dismissed the minister’s claim, saying Marte Local Government in Borno State, one of the local governments under his constituency, was yet to be liberated from the insurgents. He said that although the army had succeeded in decimating the insurgents, more efforts were needed to ensure the liberation of Marte Local Government Area.

Bornu State governor Kashim Shettima, singled out the commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, Major General Rogers Nicholas, a non-Muslim of Igbo stock for exhibiting leadership and professionalism in the fight against the Islamic extremists. Governor Shettima sang the praises of General Nicholas, saying he and the state’s police commissioner, Tom Chukwu, both coincidentally from Mbaise, Imo State, changed the game in the battle in the war-torn North-east theatre.

“Some of our greatest recent feats in the conflict were done by non-northerners and non-Muslims officers in the military. Most of the soldiers that sacrificed their lives are not of the Kanuri ethnic group,” he said.