Breaking: Nigerian Government Terminates Military Training With The US

Nigerian government has terminated the military training agreement between the Nigerian Army and United States of America, it was learnt on Monday.

Recall that Nigeria did criticise Washington for refusing to sell ‘lethal’ weapons to the country to fight the Boko Haram insurgency.

The third iteration of training was agreed upon with the intent of developing the battalion into a unit with advanced infantry skills, with the goal of helping the Nigerian army build capacity to counter Boko Haram.

The US embassy in Nigeria in a statement on Monday expressed regret over the development which was at the request of Nigerian government, but said it will continue other aspects of the extensive bilateral security relationship, as well as all other assistance programs.

The statement read: “At the request of the Nigerian government, the United States will discontinue its training of a Nigerian Army battalion.

“The first two phases of 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. The U.S. government will continue other aspects of the extensive bilateral security relationship, as well as all other assistance programs.”