The animosity between the Nigerian
government and its American counterpart has
deepened with the Nigerian government
cancelling a plan to have the United States
military train a battalion of the Nigerian army
to confront the extremist Boko Haram sect.
Nigerian officials did not provide reasons for
the decision Monday, but the United States
government said it regretted the move.
“At the request of the Nigerian government,
the United States will discontinue its training
of a Nigerian Army battalion,” the U.S.
government, through its embassy in Abuja,
said in a statement.
Relations between the two countries have
been at a record low with Nigeria accusing
the United States of not providing sufficient
support for its fight against Boko Haram.
After months of informal allegations, the
Nigerian Ambassador to the U.S. Ade Adefuye,
had in November openly accused the United
States of refusing to sell arms and equipment
to Nigeria to help defeat Boko Haram.
In its response, the American government
said it has supported Nigeria to the extent its
law permits, and accused the Nigerian
security forces of human rights violations.
The U.S. said its laws disallow sales of arms to
countries with such human rights record.
Even so, the American government said it has
provided some military equipment to Nigeria.
The two countries are not also relating well
economically after the U.S. fully suspended
buying Nigerian crude oil in July, a decision
that helped plunge Nigeria into one of its
most severe financial crises as oil price falls to
a seven-year low.
It is not clear whether the latest decision to
suspend the military training relates to
previous economic and military incidents
between the two countries.
Nigeria’s supervising Minister for Information,
Nurudeen Mohammed, could not be reached
immediately, as well as presidential
spokespersons, Reuben Abati and Doyin
Okupe,.
But the U.S. government said in its statement
that the first two phases of the training were
conducted between April and August 2014,
and had provided previously untrained
civilian personnel with basic soldiering skills.
“Based on mutual assessment of the Nigerian
Army and U.S. trainers, a third iteration of
training was agreed upon with the intent of
developing the battalion into a unit with
advanced infantry skills.
“We regret premature termination of this
training, as it was to be the first in a larger
planned project that would have trained
additional units with the goal of helping the
Nigerian Army build capacity to counter Boko
Haram,” it said.
The statement however said the U.S.
government would continue other aspects of
its extensive bilateral security relationship, as
well as all other assistance programs, with
Nigeria.
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