But thats not the end of story:
Nigeria is said to have received the MRAP vehicles from the Excess Defense Articles Programme of the US government.
Nigeria got 24 used MRAPs while on the same day Iraq received 250 MRAPs, which according to Foreign Policy ‘Supplying new weapons to Iraq and refurbishing its poorly maintained war stocks’ is an ‘urgent priority for Barack Obama’s administration’
NO SPARE PARTS
According to the Minister of Defence Maj. Gen Dan Ali who received the MRAPs on behalf of the government, he complained to the US government that the vehicles are not serviceable and arrived without spare parts, in his words
“We appreciate what the US has done but like Oliver Twist, we will appreciate if more is done. The vehicles came without spare parts.”
“Not all of them are serviceable. The US should provide the necessary spare parts to enable us repair those that need to be serviced.”
It’s not free, it does costs Nigeria a lot
Meanwhile the 250 MRAPs donated to Iraq is at no cost, and include a servicing deal ‘that also provided six months of US-provided maintenance for the hulking blast-resistant vehicles.’
Not only did Nigeria paid for the transportation of these used, unserviceable MRAP vehicles, the country will also have to pay for the maintenance and repairs of the vehicles, In the words of Col. Doyle, Defense Attache to Nigeria;
“The Nigerian military arranged for transportation from the port to Lagos”
”The repairs of the vehicles is up to the Nigerian government to do that,” he said.
From the Col. Doyle’s comment, the Nigerian government will also have to pay some more to get those vehicles to shape, and there are conditions attached, continue;
“They will have to order those parts from the United States and we will work out those conditions and how they will do that but when you say they will pay the United States, the easiest way to do that is to open a government-to-government case, where we can then work with them to ensure they get the correct parts and get them in a time and manner and from the correct manufacturers and the parts they actually need.”
The vehicles are not yet combat ready
The Minister of Defence, also hinted that the vehicles may not be in a combat ready shape as it would be moved “as soon as possible” to the Nigerian Army Electrical Maintenance Engineers workshop in Bauchi.
”They will make the necessary assessments and I believe that ongoing discussions with our American partners, the spare parts will be made available and they will be repaired.”
Nigeria should still expect about 8 more of similar donations soon according to the US.
Meanwhile, “the MRAPs being donated to Iraq are only the latest in a line of light and heavy weapons the United States has been rushing to Iraq to rebuild the country’s military, after several thousand Iraqi troops abandoned their equipment in the fight against Islamic State militants in the summer of 2014.”
The US defense attache said; “The Excess Defense Articles Programme is designed to transfer excess military equipment from the US to foreign governments or international organisations to help with modernisation of partner nation military capabilities.
Besides this MRAP donations, the US government in recent years have given Warships decommissioned from its fleet to the Nigerian Navy;
“Through a similar programme, the U.S. government donated to the Nigerian Navy the NNS Okpabana in 2014 and NNS Thunder in 2012. The two ships have bolstered maritime security in Nigeria.”
With this latest donation it is possible the US government is they are paying lip service to the term modernization or underestimating the threats of Boko Haram. Or could it be a way to boost the American government preying on the foolishness of Africa’s grateful leaders.
We all know Boko Haram is the world’s 2nd most deadly and funded terrorist group. This is the ISIS of Africa.
Pictures of the Mine Resistant Armor Protected vehicles donated to the Nigerian army by the US government to help Nigeria in its campaign against terrorism.
- TW
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