Nigeria has turned to Russia and Pakistan for warplanes following the reluctance of the United States of America, colluding with other western powers, to sell warplanes to Nigeria.
The country, according to Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, is already expecting the arrival of warplanes and helicopters it ordered from Pakistan and Russia, its latest effort to counter terrorist and militant activities.
US cites humanitarian concerns for refusing to sell weapons to Nigeria.
Despite its professed support for the government of President Muhammadu Buhari especially in the areas of fights against terrorism and corruption, the US government has sustained its policy of no deal on war weapons to Nigeria which had started from the days of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Jonathan administration had severally pinted up US refusal to sell weapons to it for its resort to other less proficient jurisdictions for purchase of weapons.
The fight against Boko Haram, which has waged a seven-year insurgency in the northern part of the country aimed at creating an Islamic state, has been sticky, largely due to poor arms available to Nigerian forces.
Until the late surge ordered by the Jonathan administration its dying days, the Boko Haram terrorists had boasted of far superior weapons to those possessed by the Nigerian forces.
The need for superior weapons have since been amplified by the recrudescence of Niger Delta militants which have been blowing up oil pipelines with reckless abandon.. The subsequent loss of crude oil output has hurt government revenues.
According to Reuters, the air force chief said it was assisting the army and navy in countering activities of terrorists and militants. Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyema, said in May that the government hoped the United States would sell it aircraft to fight Boko Haram militants, because its human rights record had improved enough for a blockade on arms deals to be lifted.
In a separate statement, Nigeria’s army chief reminded the military that captured terrorists must be treated in accordance with international law, adding that he wanted to get the military back to their barracks in 2017. Chief of Army Staff Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai urged all his commanders to act in conjunction with the air force and navy to rescue those abducted by Boko Haram.
