United States lawmakers have stopped a proposed sale of $875 million worth of arms to Nigeria over concerns about the Nigerian government\u2019s human rights record.<\/p>\n
According to Foreign Policy, top Democrats and Republicans on the Senate foreign relations committee have delayed clearing a proposed sale of 12 AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters and accompanying defense systems to the Nigerian military \u2014 the development is coming at a time when the nation is grappling with several security challenges.<\/p>\n
The report noted that the proposed arms sale included 28 helicopter engines produced by GE Aviation, 14 military-grade aircraft navigation systems made by Honeywell, and 2,000 advanced precision kill weapon systems\u2014laser-guided rocket munitions.<\/p>\n
The report noted that behind-the-scenes controversy over the proposed arms sale illustrates a broader debate among Washington policymakers over how to balance national security with human rights objectives.<\/p>\n
It said the development shows how powerful US lawmakers want to push Joe Biden\u2019s administration to rethink the US relations with Nigeria amid growing concerns that President Muhammadu Buhari is snowballing into \u201cauthoritarianism\u201d as the country is battling multiple security challenges, including jihadist insurgency.<\/p>\n
According the report, despite the battle against Boko Haram insurgents, western governments and international human rights organisations are being critical of the Buhari-led administration over the Twitter ban, systemic corruption issues, and the invasion of Lekki tollgate by soldiers during the #EndSARS protest in October 2020.<\/p>\n
In June, Bob Menendez, a senator, and chairperson of the senate foreign relations committee, during a senate hearing with Anthony Blinken, US secretary of state, called for a \u201cfundamental rethink of the framework of our overall engagement\u201d with Nigeria.<\/p>\n
Multiple US officials and congressional aides who spoke with Foreign Policy said Menendez and Jim Risch, a Republican senator on the senate foreign relations committee have placed a hold on the proposed arms sale.<\/p>\n
Officials familiar with the matter said the details on the proposed sale were first sent by the US State Department to Congress in January before Biden was inaugurated as president.<\/p>\n
” Some experts said the United States should hit the pause button on major defense sales until it makes a broader assessment of the extent to which corruption and mismanagement hobble the Nigerian military and whether the military is doing enough to minimize civilian casualties in its campaign against Boko Haram and other violent insurrectionists,\u2019\u2019 the report said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere doesn\u2019t have to be a reason why we don\u2019t provide weapons or equipment to the Nigerian military,\u201d said Judd Devermont, director of the Africa program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank.<\/p>\n
” But it has to be done with an assessment of how it will actually, one, change the direction of conflict in Nigeria, and, two, that they will use it consistent with our laws. In both cases, it\u2019s either a question mark or a fail.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a culture of impunity that exists around abuses by the military,\u201d said Anietie Ewang, the Nigeria researcher at Human Rights Watch.<\/p>\n
Ewang cited the Nigerian military\u2019s killing of unarmed protesters during the country\u2019s massive #EndSARS demonstrations against police corruption and brutality last year as well as cases documented by human rights organizations of abuses in the military\u2019s campaign against Boko Haram.<\/p>\n
On June 22, the Nigerian air force took delivery of the first batch of six A-29 Super Tucano aircraft from the US, while the second batch of six is expected in the country in September.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
United States lawmakers have stopped a proposed sale of $875 million worth of arms to Nigeria over concerns about the Nigerian government\u2019s human rights record. According to Foreign Policy, top…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":84169,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n