The United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. James Entwistle, has alleged that the Federal Government terminated the military training agreement it signed with his country because Nigeria could not meet its part of the agreement.

Entwistle explained that the agreement required Nigeria to provide equipment to be used for the training, while the USA would provide world class military personnel to train one battalion of the Nigerian Army to international standards to combat terrorism.

The US ambassador, who spoke on a Channels Television programme over the weekend, claimed that Washington fulfilled its part of the agreement by bringing renowned military trainers into the country, but added that the nation’s Defence Headquarters was unable to provide the equipment required by the trainers.

He said despite the disappointment and failure of the training agreement, the relationship between his country and Nigeria remains cordial in other areas of mutual interest that were not affected by the military training agreement.

He said, “We have good relations with the Air Force, Navy and Army at the working level. We are in touch everyday working together. Late last year, I told President Jonathan that the US wants Nigeria to win the war on terror and we stand ready to help in any and appropriate ways.

“We had started the training, at the request of the Nigerian government, of its battalions up to a world class standard. We brought in the best military trainers in the world. But the agreement with the government was that we will provide the trainers in order to do this properly, while the Nigerian Army will provide the equipment needed to do the training.

“It is a partnership. We were doing this together. It is not something we are doing for you. Training started, but sadly it got to a point that we had to stop because the equipment was not available and after several weeks of waiting, we could not keep the trainers here and the Nigerian government decided to end the training.”

He added, “I say this with great regret; it was a great opportunity to train a world class battalion. Unfortunately, it stopped at the request of your government.

“But this doesn’t have to derail our cooperation. Whatever reasons for which that happened, we can continue to move forward. As I have said, could we do training again in the future? Sure, everything is possible.

“We have to talk about the details very carefully from the beginning because we do not want to experience what happened in the past.

“I don’t think the US and Nigeria are experiencing any strained relations. I think we are in good shape.”

He also addressed the refusal of the USA to sell arms, especially Cobra Helicopters to Nigeria, maintaining that the refusal should not be interpreted to mean that there is a US arms embargo on Nigeria.

Ambassador Entwistle said: “Ideas that there are arms embargo and that the US has cut Nigeria off is untenable. No country is doing more to support Nigeria in its fight against terror right now than the US has done. We can’t talk about the details in public but I can assure you that we are with you every step of the way.”

Continuing, the envoy explained that, “We have a number of discussions right now for various pieces of equipment for the air, the ground and army personnel carriers. We share information everyday with your army that they can use operationally.

“The notion that we have cut you off is nonsense. When we transfer or consider transferring arms to any country, by US law, there is a process that we have to go through. We look at issues like, does this make sense for the country and other human rights considerations.

“You were right about the Cobra helicopters when the answer after careful deliberation was no. We have a number of other things in the pipeline that the water under the bridge is focused on at the present.”

•Credit: Newswatch Times. Photo shows Ambassador Entwistle.

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