This follows the refusal of the United States and other Western powers to sell weapons to the cash-strapped state to fight Islamist insurgent group Boko Haram.

The Western arms boycott against Nigeria is based on concerns of human rights abuses by the Abuja government.

Air Marshall Sadique Abubakar says Africa’s largest air force was driven to seeking hardware from other sources to wage the fight against Boko Haram.

Nigerian troops are being trained in Pakistan, China, the United States, United Kingdom, South Africa, Egypt and Russia.

Abubakar does not say how the oil-dependent state will pay for the planes with incomes from this commodity dramatically reduced by price decreases.

The post Nigeria looks further afield for the warplanes the West won’t sell it appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.