Federal government rejects US conditions on sale of fighter jets
- The minister of defence said that the federal government has approved the purchase of the $494 million 12 A-29 Super Tucano fighter crafts
- He however said that the government will not accept some of the conditions attached to the deal by the US government
- He said payments will be made when the conditions are reduced
The minister of defence, Mansur Dan-Ali, has said that the federal government will not accept the stringent conditions given by the United States on the planned purchase of 12 Tucano fighter jets.
He said arrangements have been concluded to meet the February 20 deadline for payment of 494 million dollars meant for procurement of 12 A-29 Super Tucano Light-attack aircraft from US but Nigeria will not accept some of the conditions attached to the deal.
Legit.ng gathered that Dan-Ali made this known while briefing State House correspondents after the meeting of National Security Council, presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Thursday, January 25.
According to Daily Trust, the minister said: “some of the conditions America gave us are stringent. These conditions we will not accept.”
He added: “One of the stringent measures is that we will start having the aircraft from 2020, which is two years from now.
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“The US State Department is also thinking of not allowing Nigerian technicians to be part of the production inspection.
“But this is what we normally do in defence contracts: we send our personnel to go and understudy, especially when it comes to specialised contracts. In Russia, our personnel are permanently based where the production is being done for this MI35 helicopters.”
Dan-Ali said the federal government was planning to meet with the US ambassador to discuss reducing the conditions.
“Payments will be made when the conditions are reduced,” the defence minister stated.
The minister also said that he informed the National Security Council that in line with the decision of the present government to increase the strength of the Armed Forces to address manpower problem, the three services had in the last two years enlisted and recruited qualified Nigerians.
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He announced that the Ministry of Defence had embarked on providing befitting accommodation for members of the Armed Forces in the six geopolitical zones of the country.
He said Defence Headquarters had also provided accommodation to its personnel, which was inaugurated in Abuja last month.
“All these would go a long way in solving the accommodation problem and boost the morale of personnel serving in Abuja,’’ he added.
Dan-Ali also said that the Military Pension Verification Exercise conducted in the 36 states and
Federal Capital Territory enabled the Military Pension Board to update its data payroll.
Legit.ng previously reported that the Nigerian Air Force explained that it bought new aircraft from the United States to consolidate in the fight against Boko Haram insurgency.
Nigeria has continued the fight against insurgency despite initial report that they had been decimated.
The spokesperson of the Air Force, Air Vice Marshal Olatokunbo Adesanya, in response to questions about why Nigeria was still purchasing fighter jets in spite of reports of success against the insurgents, insisted that success was being recorded and the new addition was to consolidate on the effort being made.
Nigerian Air Force operations against Boko Haram - on Legit.ng TV
Source: Legit.ng
