Due to report of human rights abuse, some United States lawmakers have stopped the plans of the US govt to sell fighter jets and ammunitions to Nigerian government.
The ammunition comprises of 28 helicopter engines produced by GE Aviation, 14 military-grade aircraft navigation systems made by Honeywell, and 2,000 advanced precision kill weapon systems—laser-guided rocket munitions, according to a report by Foreign Policy.
It was gathered that top Democrat and Republican on the Senate foreign relations committee have delayed clearing a proposed sale of 12 AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters and accompanying defence systems to the Nigerian military.
There have accusations of human rights abuses against of Nigerians by the Nigerian government in the United Nations during the #EndSARS demonstrations and against certain religious sects.
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.
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“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,’’ the report said.
“There doesn’t have to be a reason why we don’t provide weapons or equipment to the Nigerian military,” said Judd Devermont, director of the Africa programme at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank.
“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’s either a question mark or a fail.”
“There is a culture of impunity that exists around abuses by the military,” said Anietie Ewang, the Nigeria researcher at Human Rights Watch.
