Nigeria has refuted reports of human rights violations committed by its armed personnel. This denial is due to the United States' unwillingness to sell arms to the country. Subsequently, Nigeria's Minister of Foreign Affairs emphasized that the US needs to reexamine its restrictions on selling weapons to the West African country.
- Nigeria denies reports of human rights violations by its armed personnel
- Nigeria's Minister of Foreign Affairs urges the US to reconsider restrictions on selling weapons to Nigeria
- The US has been unwilling to sell arms to Nigeria due to alleged violation of the Leahy amendments
A report seen in the newspaper, Sputnik showed that Nigeria’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Yusuf Tuggar, has requested that the United States reconsider trading arms to Nigeria.
The United States has been unwilling to sell arms to the West African country owing to its alleged violation of the Leahy amendments.
The Leahy Amendments are US human rights regulations that practically ban the US Departments of State and Defense from giving military support to foreign security forces who disregard human rights.
*"There are certain restrictions, through the Leahy Law, for instance, that prohibit the sale of certain kinetic equipment to \[our\] military and to our security agencies\. This is something that has to be reevaluated,” *he said\.
Speaking at the Wilson Center Africa Program in the United States, on Wednesday, where he was a guest speaker, the minister noted that the US continues to be fed a false narrative from the spread of fake news.
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He claimed that the US was using said news as leverage to deny Nigeria access to its arms market, and by extension has weakened the country’s ability to combat terrorism and other issues of national security.
"This must change. While we accept that there have been isolated incidents of abuse, the Nigerian army and security institutions, while fighting enemies that have used children as suicide bombers to attack markets and other soft targets, remain committed to human rights," the minister said.
He also revealed that while not without complications, Nigeria is committed to human rights as seen in Nairametrics. As an example, he narrated that as of 2016, the Nigerian army established a human rights department to better detect and respond to situations of human rights violations.
“We’re not perfect, but we investigate. We’re transparent, and we act. We’re a country under the rule of law and due process. Our country safeguards the freedom of religion, speech, and association,” the minister stated.
