US lawmakers ask Biden to cancel $1b arms deal with Nigeria over human rights violations

Two lawmakers representing California and New Jersey in the US House of Representatives have asked President Joe Biden to reverse the decision to sell military infrastructure to Nigeria, premising their argument on an investigative report indicting the Nigerian Army for a quantum of forced abortions.

In 2018, Buhari conveyed to the Nigerian military authorities his approval for the purchase of military equipment to the tune of $1 billion.

The legislators, Republican Chris Smith of New Jersey’s 4th District and Democrat Sara Jacobs of California, both members of the subcommittee on Africa, tasked the US government to revisit the terms of its relationship with Nigeria with a view to knowing the extent of risks and abuses arising from its security assistance to Nigeria.

“We write to express our concern with current U.S. policy on and military support to Nigeria,” Reuters quoted the lawmakers.

The two congresspersons also pointed out that the Nigerian security forces had been accused of lacking adequate capacity to understand the concept of international humanitarian frameworks.

“Therefore, we believe continuing to move forward with the nearly $1 billion arms sale would be highly inappropriate and we urge the administration to rescind it,” the lawmakers said in the letter.

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This is the second time US legislators would oppose the release or sale of military tools to Nigeria in its battle against insurgency, hinging their claims on reported human rights abuses.

In December 2022, Senator Jim Risch, a Republican senator, sitting on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called for a review of the terms of security support and assistance between Nigeria and the US.

“I look forward to hearing more about the (State) Department´s planned response to the serious and abhorrent allegations levied against a long-standing beneficiary of U.S. security assistance and cooperation which, if deemed credible, have done irreparable harm to a generation of Nigerian citizens and to U.S. credibility in the region,” the Idaho senator said in the letter,” Risch said.

According to US Defense Security Cooperation Agency, the security hardware “will better equip Nigeria to contribute to shared security objectives, promote regional stability and build interoperability with the U.S. and other Western partners”.

Since Buhari approved the funds in 2018, Nigeria has been receiving warplanes and security tools in batches to complement the efforts against insurgency.

The past 14 years in Nigeria have been characterised by large-scale terrorism by Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), who have caused thousands of deaths of armed men and civilians. FIJ