Military reform in troubled waters

By Tokunbo Oloruntola,
Daily Independent, Lagos

To the Presidency, the unilateral suspension of the US military assistance to Nigeria by the Bush administration is a good riddance to bad rubbish. "If the US has decided to suspend its military assistance to Nigeria, so be it," Chief Dubem Onyia, the Foreign Affairs Minister of State told the US Ambassador to Nigeria, Howard Jetter, last week with an air of finality.

The sudden collapse of a strategic military relationship nurtured since late 1999 is still raising eyebrow in the diplomatic community.

The Federal Government is accusing the US of cutting off the multi-million dollar aid programme because of Nigeria's opposition to the on-going war in Iraq, warning that it would not take dictation from any country. The US, however, countered that the decision was taken because of a new legislation which took effect from February 20, which withdrew military aid to any nation that uses it to abuse human rights.

Jetter further explained that the Nigerian soldiers' invasion of some Benue villages in 2001 to avenge the killing of 19 soldiers by the Tiv militants was the major factor for the suspension of the military assistance. "We have over the past one year and a- half- explained these concern to the Nigerian government and warned of possible Congressional action on the military assistance,"the ambassador explained .

Daily Independent gathered that the Clinton administration from inception, viewed with concern the human rights profile of the Nigerian military while floating the programme for the Obasanjo administration. For instance, the Pentagon, the US defence ministry, screened all the Nigerian military officers and men who benefited from its special training programme for peace-keeping operation in Sierra Leone.

The training programme, code-named 'Operation Focus Relief (OFR) is a major component of the military assistance programme. All the Nigerian participants in the OFR were vetted by Pentagon for possible abuse of human rights during the prolonged military rule in Nigeria. Their names were checked against a list of suspected human rights abusers in the US Department of Defence and Intelligence Agencies.

The US insisted that any Nigerian military personnel who abused the rights of others would not benefit from the special training programme . The US military suspicion of their Nigerian counterparts was informed by the gross abuse perpetrated under the Babangida and Abacha military regimes.

During the Abacha era , the US imposed sanctions against the Nigerian military, including sale of military hardware.

President Olusegun Obasanjo's request for the US military assistance was to provide an answer to the question agitating the mind of the newly elected leaders after the military reluctantly handed over power on May 29,1999 and returned to the barracks.

The spectre of the possible come-back of the military to power loomed immediately after the May 29 hand-over, compelling the Obasanjo administration to purge the armed forces of several middle and senior level officers suspected to pose threat to the new democratic dispensation.

The basic question then was :How do we create a disciplined force out of the inherited military that would be subordinate to elected leaders ?

One of the first initiatives of Obasanjo in this regard was the development of diversified contacts with several military powers to keep tab on the military as well as enhancing its professionalism. Unfortunately, like the suspended US military assistance, several of these initiatives are now deadlocked and may never be revisited for one reason or the other.

One of the first of such contacts made by Obasanjo was with President Charles Taylor of Liberia, few days after coming to office. Obasanjo's proposal to Taylor was a defence pact that would be signed by the 16 member-state of ECOWAS to foil coups which have not allowed the ballot box democracy to thrive in the sub-region.

Togo's Defence Minister, General Tidjani, later called on Obasanjo in September 1999 to discuss the proposed defence pact.

Diplomatic sources said the initiative was killed by mutual suspicion among ECOWAS leaders to the proposal. Some of them, it was gathered, suspected that the pact could be exploited by Nigeria, the sub-region's military power.

The cultivation of the US military by Obasanjo from day one drew opposition from some of the Nigerian Generals and vested interests outside the barracks.

Until then, the Nigeria-US military relationships were limited. For instance, the only major weapon system which Nigeria sourced from the US is the C-130 Hercules transport aircraft for its Air Force

The US objection to Obasanjo's proposal for a defence pact was the first blow to the military co-operative programme. A defence pact would have committed the US to the defence of Nigeria, which Washington believs is not strategic to its interests.

The military programme which the US eventually agreed to involve the reorientation of the Nigerian military as well as auditing and replacing its hardware. The training programme was challenged by the then Army Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Victor Malu, who accused the Americans of attempting to use it to spy on Nigeria's military capability. Said he: "I don't think it is appropriate for any country to come and tell us or lecture us about our strategic and defence policy. Your best friend today can be your enemy tomorrow."

The Chief of Defence Staff, Vice Admiral Ibrahim Ogohi, also told the visiting US War College team that the military assistance should be limited to logistic. Another component of the suspended programme is provided by a private firm, the Military Professional Resources Initiatives(MPRI) funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

MPRI, in auditing the Nigerian military in 2002, dicovered that:

"78per cent of the Army equipment is non-operational

"the training of the troops had been virtually halted

"all the 22 Mig 21, 15 Jaguar warplanes and two of the eight C-130 are grounded.

MPRI also revealed that the Navy has 19 Admirals for only nine seaworthy vessels. Under the programme, some Nigerian military officers also attended some US military academies while the Nigerian Navy also initiated moves to lease seven ex-US Coastguard vessels.

The next strategic move made by the Obasnjo administration was to Britain, Nigeria's former colonial master, for the staging of a joint military exercise by the British and Nigerian armed forces.

The British and Nigerian Generals met late 1999 and agreed that the military exercise would take place in early 2000 and frantic preparation ensued to make it a reality.

For several weeks, the proposed military exercise created a stir in the Francophone countries, particularly Cameroun which has a defence pact with France and Benin which earlier had a joint military exercise with France. Diplomatic sources said the British backed out of the deal which would have renewed its relationship and raised its stake in the Nigerian military which was its baby.

Among several objections raised by Britain for backing out of the joint exercise was the alleged inadequate training by the Nigerian troops and that they were not concentrated.

Daily Independent gathered that moves by the Federal Government to renew the deal have been rebuffed by Britain which believe that Nigeria military needs to put its house in order before it could participate in such an exercise.

The proposed military pact with Turkey also ran into troubled waters almost at the final stage. When Obasanjo visited Ankara, the Turkish capital, in early 2001, the bilateral military co-operation was agreed to cover the exchange of visits by top military officers of the two countries, the placement of Nigerian military officers in the Turkish military academies and co-operation in defence industries. The Turkish defence officials were enthusiastic about the deal which they believed would boost their defence industries.

Trouble started when the Federal Government delegation in Ankara declined signing the pact, insisting that it must be ratified in Abuja.

The proposal raised more dust when it was brought to Abuja , compelling the Federal Government to develop cold feet on it. Since then, Turkish diplomats had been mounting pressure on the Federal Government to sign the proposal, but local opposition to it was said to be serious.

As a result, the Federal Government had asked the Turkish diplomats in Nigeria to wait for the appropriate time. The most sensitive proposal was made to the Federal Government by North Korea, a pariah nation, for a defence pact with Nigeria.

The proposal was initiated during the Sani Abacha military regime in a desparate bid to counter the military sanctions imposed on Nigeria by the European Union (EU) and the United States over the killing of the Ogoni Nine. The sanction had starved the Nigerian military of new weapons systems and spare parts to maintain its military hardware, most of them sourced from the EU.

To consumate the pact, the late General Sani Abacha even sent some of its top Generals, including General Abdulsalami Abubakar, the then Chief of Defence Staff, to Pyonyang, the North Korea capital, to study its military doctrine and strategy, amidst stiff opposition from the US and Europe. The death of Abacha in June 1986 aborted the signing of the defence pact and North Korea renewed the proposal with the Obasanjo administration early 2001.

Diplomatic sources said the US objected seriously to the proposal which also faced opposition from the local front. The US since the Abacha era was said to have been disturbed by the North Korea's proposal which sources said could give the Communist nation a foothold in a country where its investment clout is growing by leap and bound.

In spite of several moves by Pyonyang to reopen the issue, the Federal Government was said to have closed its book on the proposal which could mar its growing military relationship with the US.