Those who have followed contemporary events in this country will not be surprised at the news that Nigeria struck a deal to buy arms and ammunition from Russia. Under the arrangement, Russia is to supply its MI-35s and MI-17s military jets among other armaments to this country to aid the fight against the Boko Haram insurgency.
The deal followed Nigeria’s cancellation of the US military training programme for our soldiers and is largely viewed as a response to the curious attitude of that country to the raging insurgency. Though various reasons have been adduced to rationalize Nigeria’s decision to cancel the programme, it is widely believed it has every thing to do with US refusal to sell categories of military aircraft and arms to Nigeria to fight the insurgents.
Two well respected Nigerians, Gen Yakubu Gowon Retd, a former head of state and Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka had heavily criticized the US for its refusal to supply the country the little arms it needed to defend its citizens and quell the Boko Haram uprising. But the US had hinged its decision on the nebulous excuse of human rights abuses by the military even when the insurgents are equally no respecter of human rights.
The two personages could not understand what the argument on human rights is meant to serve when our citizens are faced with the danger of annihilation by the better equipped and more sophisticated insurgents. Moreover, US stand on the issue does not tally with its position on terrorism as is evident in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq where it is currently battling the ISIS onslaught. It was therefore seen as double standards for the US to turn its eyes against Nigeria in its difficult moment especially when the same country went to war in Iraq under the guise of her possession of nuclear weaponry. Many innocent souls lost their lives in that unfortunate encounter. Today, we know that Iraq possessed no nuclear weapons. But the harm has been done. And no body has been brought to book for that fiasco. More over, recent accounts on the activities of some US security operatives have revealed large scale human rights abuses following events leading to the twin tower bombing. So the issue of human rights abuse may not be stretched too far in such difficult and trying situations.
Apparently frustrated by the US action in the face of the escalation of the Boko Haram insurgency, Nigeria had to seek help elsewhere. Thus, the arms deal with Russia. With the action, Nigeria seems to have defined a new relationship with Russia.
Not unexpectedly, the deal has become an issue of intense discussion among defense and security analysts in the US. Discussions have centered on the likely effects of the action on Nigeria/US relations, the divergence in opinions and perception of the two countries on the insurgency and what the new arms deal portends for the rivalry between the US and Russia- a rekindling of the super power competition. The discussants also threw new insights into some other considerations that may have been at the center of the US refusal to aid Nigeria militarily, allegations of human rights abuses notwithstanding.
A Director of African programme at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Jennifer Cooke admitted that there is a great deal of tension between the two countries particularly over the security relationship and that each side has a different perception of the matter.
Ben Moores, a senior analyst at the defense and security analysis organization HIS Janes’s 360 gave new reasons why US would not want to sell its advanced weapons system to Nigeria. He said advanced military jets and attack helicopters could not be sold to Nigeria for fear they could be passed on to a third party. Moreover, there were “leaks or moles inside the Nigerian military who were leaking information to Boko Haram. They were leaking certain bits of information, training information and perhaps information on the team itself” Moores said.
For him, what Nigeria needed most was not fighter jets and attack helicopters but a better motivated, a more professional force to deal with some of the social and cultural problems.
Some of the issues raised make more sense than the trite pontification on human rights even though they are not entirely foolproof. There is no doubt that the US does not have a good reading of the situation on the ground and the general feelings of our people. That much had been given credence by the views of Gowon and Soyinka among several other well-meaning Nigerians.
The nation is facing destruction by the insurgents and must take every legitimate action to protect its citizens. If all it takes is the deployment of advanced military jets and helicopters so be it.
It smacks of a poor reading of the situation to hold that we do not have a pressing need for the jets and attack helicopters. On the contrary, we have very urgent need for them to decisively end this war. Whereas it can be admitted that we need a more motivated and professional force, it is wrong to ascribe the current Boko Haram insurgency to social and cultural issues. Boko Haram is similar in motivation and ideological leaning to ISIS which the US has been battling with very sophisticated military jets and hardware in Syria and Iraq.
The issue of moles and leaks in the military is real. With some unscrupulous military persons leaking information to Boko Haram, any foreign partner seeking to help is bound to be frightened as the security of its personnel and equipment is not guaranteed. These weaknesses can be admitted. On several occasions, our soldiers have been waylaid by the insurgents due to information leaks on their movements. In one of such instances, the soldiers went wild firing shots at their commander after they suffered heavy casualty from Boko Haram ambush.
Such incidences do not imbue confidence in the outside world that we are all committed and united in the fight against insurgency. More than anything, they underscore the point more forcefully that there are sections in the military and political class that lend huge support to the insurgents. This may have contributed in obfuscating US perception of the matter.
But then, there is a legitimate government in place and there are standard practices on how to deal with a band of anarchists seeking to levy war on such governments. Whatever the motivation- religious, cultural or social Boko Haram has become a mortal threat to the corporate existence and survival of this country. And the government ought to be given the needed help to tame the monster. Inventing sundry reasons and excuses to deny Nigeria the arms and ammunitions to quell the insurgency is a clear invitation to anarchy.
More seriously, the position Nigeria has found itself is self-inflicted. It is a huge shame that 54 years after independence, we are still cap in hand begging for arms and ammunitions from foreign countries. We fought a civil war here and certain military competences were developed then. We are also not lacking in human and financial capacities. Instead of seizing and activating the ingenuity of the civil war era to catalyze technological transformation, we allowed that opportunity to slip. The same forces and contradictions that gave rise to the civil war are at play again in the Boko Haram project.
