Much Ado About American Weapons In a Nigerian War By Ehi Akpata

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Nigeria can best be described as movie theatre where there is never a shortage of drama. From terrorist attacks to massive corruption scandals to political scandals, the drama never ends. It is almost becoming difficult to keep track of embarrassing events these days such that before one reacts to the latest scandal it becomes dwarfed by an even more scandalous event. The crux of this article is the recent verbal exchange between the Nigerian government on the one hand and the US government on the other hand over the supply of military hardware.

Recently, the Nigerian government blamed the US government for its challenges in getting the necessary firepower needed to prosecute its war with the Boko Haram sect. The US government on their part has blamed Nigeria’s poor human right record as the reason for not selling weapons to Nigeria. The Nigerian government has hung tenaciously to this excuse and has continued to use it to justify its robust incompetence. Trust the Presidents spokesmen and supporters to castigate the US, suddenly a scapegoat had been found to take some pressure off the president. However, some more dispassionate minds have paused to ask some pertinent questions: is the US the only manufacturer of military hardware in the world? Has the US been our major supplier of military equipment in the past? Can the equipment sought by the Nigerian government be obtained from sources other than the US? Let us turn our attention to the weapons and equipment ever supplied to our army since 1960 to help us see who our major arms suppliers have been. Our major suppliers of military equipment are Russia, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Belgium in descending order. These equipment ranges from missiles, armoured vehicles, rifles, artillery, air defense weapons and small arms. The US has only supplied Nigeria with weapons on about three occasions putting them in the same category with nations like Sweden and Germany. Interestingly, the weapons that were supplied to Nigeria by the US are no more in service. One would expect the Nigerian government to focus its attention on countries like Russia, the United Kingdom, Italy and France for military equipment or is it only American weapons that can kill Boko Haram members? China happens to be one of our major trading partners and a producer of military hardware. This is another very important option for us if we choose to explore it.

Another leg of this topic has to do with attack helicopters or helicopter gunships and it will be discussed separately from mainstream military equipment. An attack helicopter is a specially designed and fitted helicopter that has the ability to attack targets on the ground and is able to carry heavy machine guns and missiles. Due to its special features it can be used for special missions like escorting army convoys and carrying out attack missions. Sometime In June 2014, we were greeted with the news that Nigeria had ordered 40 Cobra attack helicopters to aid its lingering war with the Boko Haram sect. Unfortunately, this deal has now gone up in smoke as a result of the current US position on Nigeria. I have always advocated for the provision of attack helicopters for our army and have been thoroughly amazed that we do not have a reasonable fleet of our own by now. African countries like Egypt have possessed Apache helicopters for years and you will still hear some folks call our army the best in Africa, what ignorance.

In my view, it is not the end of the world if the Americans refuse to sell cobra helicopters to us. Nigeria is not the first nation to be denied weapons or attack helicopters for that matter by the US. China suffered the same challenge in the past and it is important to see how they responded to the situation. Following the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, the US placed an arms embargo on China. This made it impossible for China to obtain attack helicopters it urgently needed from the US. Even Russia refused to sell attack helicopters to China. Instead of crying and complaining like the Nigerian government has chosen to do, the Chinese sought other alternatives and this included developing their own attack helicopters and today China is a proud producer of attack helicopters. Necessity is the mother of inventions but it seems like in Nigeria Necessity is the mother of complaints and excuses.

So what immediate alternatives are available to the Nigerian government? There are other nations who manufacture attack helicopters and would be more inclined to sell to us. I earlier identified China as a maker of attack helicopters. China and Nigeria are major trading partners and I see no reason why we cannot look towards the East if America fails us. The Chinese produce the Z-10 attack helicopter which has been adjudged to be reasonably competent. The Italians have supplied us weapons in the past and they produce the Augusta A129 attack helicopters. The Germans are another of our previous arms suppliers who produce attack helicopters, they produce the Eurocopter Tiger and I see no reason why we cannot try any of these options. I have deliberately left out the Russian built versions because the current sanctions on Russia might affect any deals with them.

Leaders are chosen to solve problems and make tough decisions. Nigeria has been desperately in need of leaders to do the needful in trying times such as this. We certainly do not need leaders who instead of fixing a problem search for who to blame for it. If our army is in need of weapons of any description there are several options to explore. If Chad can get plane loads of weapons from France then Nigeria has no excuse, and if a private citizen like Tompolo can acquire gunships then I don’t know what to even say anymore.

@mcspella 

VIEWS EXPRESSED ARE SOLELY AUTHOR’S.

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