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By Fabian Oghoore
President Muhammadu Buhari is understandably under pressure to end the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria. Seven years after the mass abduction of Chibok school girls under former President Goodluck Jonathan administration, there is still no solution to abduction of school children under Buhari’s regime. Rather string of mass kidnappings has resulted in the closure of 600 schools in the Northern parts of the country, according to Amnesty International.
Targeting schools and abducting hundreds of students for huge ransom has been taken to new heights since Boko Haram joined the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) in their armed campaign in the North East and neighbouring Cameroon and Chad. A United Nations report estimates that the 12-year BokoHaram conflict in the North East has contributed to the death of nearly 350,000 people, more than 90 per cent are children .The UN Development Programme says that for every person killed directly in the fighting, and at least nine other lives are lost because of the impact of the war.
Since the Islamic group launched its attacks in 2009, close to two million people have reportedly fled their homes in the three states of the North East. At a recent summit organized by the House of Representatives Special Committee on Security, the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, decried the rising spate of insecurity in Nigeria, warning that “the existence of the country is under serious threat.”
Our government’s effort to curb the Boko Haram insurgency started under ex-President Jonathan when he asked the United States (US) under President Barack Obama to sell arms and equipment to Nigeria. But the Obama administration refused immediate sale even when it was urgently needed, and even blocked the sale of American-made cobra attack helicopters to Nigeria from Israel because of human rights concerns and corruption that flourished under Jonathan’s regime.
Relations between Nigeria and the United States as result dropped to a record low with Nigeria accusing the US of not providing sufficient support for its fight against insurgency at a time the help was most needed. The Country subsequently suspended military training with the US in 2014 after Washington repeatedly blocked its effort to buy arms to fight the insurgents. A former Nigeria Consul General to the US, Ambassador Joe Keshi, wrote that records show Washington has carried out major arms shipments, running into several billions of dollars, to countries with abysmal human rights records, including brutal suppression of democratic dissents.
Jonathan was defeated in the 2015 presidential election by Gen. Muhammadu Buhari principally because of his alleged “cluelessness” in dealing with the Boko Haram insurgency. Buhari assumed office as president and said while on a state visit to Washington in July 2015, alleged that the US had refused to provide weapons to Nigeria. This shows that military and technical cooperation is used by some countries as instrument of political pressure. Failure by any state to toe a dictated political line could entail refusal to sell military equipment and spare parts to that state which could negatively affect the state’s defensive capability.
Less than two years after Jonathan left office the Obama administration said it was poised to sell up to 12 light attack Super Tucano aircraft to Nigeria as part of an effort to support the country’s fight against the Boko Haram militant group, marking the warming of relationship between the two countries. Yet in the final days of his administration, Obama suspended the sale after a Nigerian jet bombed a refugee camp near the border with Cameroon. President Donald Trump assumed office and overturned the arms embargo imposed on the $600m attack planes to Nigeria with conditions. Those conditions included a 2020 transfer date for the aircraft (which never materialized) and that Nigerian technicians will not be trained by US Staff, be part of maintenance crews, nor can they study the production of the planes. While Nigeria has paid for the planes to tackle the Boko Haram increasing insurgency, its purchases of expensive military equipment under the current economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic must be executed after thorough and deep risks analysis to avoid being totally dependent on other countries. The existence of a well-trained and equipped army in Nigeria is the only insurance for preservation of its sovereignty, territorial integrity and ensuring the safety of its civil population. Fighting terrorism by the current leadership is impossible without providing the army with the necessary military equipment.
Nigeria reportedly counts on intensification of its fight against terrorism with JF-I7 Fighter jets which consignment is expected in the near future. This aircraft, according to experts, are equipped with modern radio electronics but the Pakistani producer has replaced imported components with its own developments which affects the quality and reliability of the machinery. That is why aviation experts believe that about 40 per cent of JF-I7 jets used by Pakistan are grounded for different reasons including fuselage issues, cracks in the lower part of their cowl (the removable covering that houses the engine and sometimes part of the fuselage), and electric challenges deactivating the pilot’s ejection system.
For ten years, the Nigeria government has continued to battle the Boko Haram insurgency to no end, even after the Buhari government had repeatedly claimed to have technically defeated Boko Harm insurgents. Yet the government is still lamenting over lack of effective arms to fight. According to the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, in the last quarter of 2020, “we have been denied better military platforms, and without adequate platforms, we will remain at the mercy of terrorists.” It is high time Nigeria built credible military partnerships that will not only help develop its local military capacity but serve her national security interest.
Ogboore writes from Abuja
