Trump plans to move ahead with Nigeria planes sale

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Trump plans to move ahead with Nigeria planes sale

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In his support for the fight against Boko Haram, the United States President Donald Trump’s administration is pushing forward with plans to sell up to a dozen aircraft to Nigeria’s air force.Sources said the deal could be worth up to 600 million dollars. Sources also said the Super Tucano A-29 aircraft, an agile, propeller-driven plane with reconnaissance and surveillance, as well as attack capabilities, is made by Brazil’s Embraer.Recall the sales talk began with the Obama administration but experienced a delay following Nigerian Air Force bombing of a refugee camp in January that was said to have killed about 170 civilians.The Trump administration says it wants to push ahead to boost Nigeria’s efforts to fight Boko Haram and bolster hiring in the United States by defence firms.“We’ve been told that the administration is going to go forward with that transaction,” a congressional aide said.A source in Abuja confirmed that the sale would go ahead and said it would also involve training, surveillance and military intelligence “to support ”¦ the ongoing insurgency war.”In March, the Trump administration informed Congress of its plans to pursue a five billion dollars sale of Bahrain of Lockheed Martin F-16s and related equipment, which had been held up under Obama when Bahrain failed to meet human rights targets.It was also reported that the Obama administration was going to sell the Embraer aircraft to Nigeria in May 2016, as a vote of confidence in President Muhammadu Buhari’s drive to reform the military.The Super Tucano costs more than 10 million dollars each and the price can go much higher depending on the configuration.There are, however, questions as to whether Nigeria will be able to pay the full 600 million dollars for the aircraft, equipment, training and support.

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