The US State Department has just approved a major sale of attack helicopters to Nigeria for almost a billion dollars.
The sale of 12 US AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters and associated military equipment, including guidance and night vision systems as well as training support, is estimated at $997 million.
It will make it possible “to better equip Nigeria to (…) promote regional stability and strengthen interoperability with the United States and other Western partners”, specified La Défense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA). This sale “will constitute a major contribution to the security objectives of the United States and Nigeria, a strategic partner in sub-Saharan Africa”, added the DSCA in a press release. In addition to their air-to-ground firing capabilities, the AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters can also be used during reconnaissance and escort missions, indicates the American manufacturer Bell Textron on its website. In November, during his first tour of sub-Saharan Africa, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on Nigeria to play a greater role on the continent while encouraging it to be more transparent in its management of human rights.
The largest economy in sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria, home to 215 million people, is a key player on the continent in the eyes of the various American administrations, which have all courted Nigerian leaders since the restoration of democracy in 1999. But the American discourse towards Nigeria had hardened, especially following the bloody repression of a vast peaceful protest movement once morest police violence in October 2020. The American Congress had also delayed the sale of military equipment to Nigeria in the face of questions on the army’s commitment to protecting civilians in its fight once morest the jihadist insurgency that has been waged in the northeast of the country for more than a decade.
Last year, the African giant began receiving American Super Tucano ground attack aircraft. President Donald Trump had given the green light to this sale in 2017, suspended by its predecessor Barack Obama following an accidental Nigerian strike on a refugee camp, which killed more than 100 people.
