Nigeria’s Woro massacre in early February 2026 was a large‑scale attack on two mainly Muslim farming communities that left Muslim and Christian civilians dead, including adults and children, community leaders, and people living on the economic margins. Local leaders...
MEA RISK’s SHIELD & ALERT notifications: Access requires installing Shield & Alert mobile application. More info on S&A here or click here to signup and install
Nigeria Adjusts Airstrike Strategy Under Expanded U.S. Security Cooperation
Nigeria is adjusting how it conducts air operations against armed groups as part of an updated security arrangement with the United States. Under the new framework, Nigerian fighter aircraft will increasingly rely on U.S. reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering...
Nigeria: Questions Mount Over U.S. Airstrikes in Northern Nigeria
By Leslie Varenne, MondAfrique: The American strikes carried out in Nigeria on Christmas Day raise serious questions. Beyond the confusion surrounding the objectives of the operation, inconsistencies in official statements, and the unclear nature of the targets, the...
U.S. Immigration Policy and the Changing Landscape of Africa-U.S. Travel
As the United States prepares to implement a new round of immigration and visa policy changes in 2026, the effects are being felt across Africa and parts of the Middle East. What began as a technical overhaul of screening and enforcement procedures has evolved into a...
Nigerian president Tinubu under pressure to avoid war with northern neighbor Niger
By Camille Malpat with Aminu Abubakar in Kano, Nigeria: Political leaders in Nigeria are urging President Bola Tinubu to reconsider a threatened military intervention against junta leaders in neighbouring Niger, ahead of a Sunday deadline to reinstate the country's...
Nigeria grapples with end of fuel subsidy
By Alexandre Martins Lopes: Nigerians are struggling with surging fuel prices after newly elected President Bola Tinubu declared an end to popular subsidies, a move analysts and experts said was long overdue. On his first day in office, Tinubu kept to his campaign...
Nigeria gets six A-29 Super Tucanos attack aircraft from the US
Posted On 25 July 2021
Nigeria has received six of 12 turboprop light attack aircraft from the United States to help fight mounting insecurity, its airforce said. Africa’s most populous nation faces several security crises, including a 12-year-old jihadist insurgency in the northeast, herder-farmer clashes in the centre, kidnapping for ransom in the northwest and separatist agitations in the south.
In August 2017, the administration of then president Donald Trump agreed to sell to Nigeria 12 A-29 Super Tucanos, built in the US by Sierra Nevada Corporation and its Brazilian partner, Embraer Defense and Security. “The first batch of A-29 Super Tucano aircraft have arrived in Kano today,” Nigeria Airforce spokesman Edward Gabkwet said in a statement late Thursday. He later told AFP that six out of 12 had arrived.
The planes are part of a deal that includes supplying the Nigerian armed forces with ammunition, training and aircraft maintenance, according to a US official. In 2018, specialist website, defenceWeb, said the sale was worth $329 million (279 million euros). It said associated weaponry, including guided bombs and rockets, might be acquired under separate contracts.
The sale was initially unveiled in May 2016 but the administration of former president Barack Obama froze the deal just before handing over to Trump, after the Nigerian military accidentally bombed a camp for people displaced by the conflict in the northeast, killing 112 civilians.
Boko Haram, and rival offshoot Islamic State West Africa Province have killed at least 40,000 people and forced more than two million people from their homes since 2009. The violence has spread to parts of neighbouring Chad, Cameroon and Niger, prompting a regional military coalition to fight the jihadists.
The Super Tucano is already used in Brazil, for border patrols, and in a dozen other air forces including in Afghanistan, Colombia and Indonesia. On Sunday, the air force said it had lost an Alpha Jet, a European-made trainer and light attack plane built in the 1970s and 80s, after it came under fire from criminal gangs in Zamfara state in the northwest of the country.
AFP
Recent News from Nigeria
Nigeria: More than 160 people killed in Muslim communities in Kwara State
More than 160 people were killed in predominantly Muslim farming communities in Kwara State, Nigeria, after villagers reportedly refused to accept an extremist group’s strict religious rule.
Nigeria Adjusts Airstrike Strategy Under Expanded U.S. Security Cooperation
Nigeria is modifying how it conducts air operations against armed groups under a revised security arrangement with the United States. The new framework places greater emphasis on U.S. intelligence and reconnaissance support while shifting operational responsibility to Nigerian forces. The approach reflects Abuja’s effort to balance external assistance with domestic control amid ongoing security challenges in the country’s northwest.
Nigeria: Questions Mount Over U.S. Airstrikes in Northern Nigeria
The U.S. airstrikes carried out in northern Nigeria on Christmas Day have triggered confusion and skepticism across the region. Conflicting statements from Washington and Abuja, uncertainty over the identity of the targeted groups, and reports from strike locations where no militants were found have raised serious questions about the operation’s objectives. In an already fragile security environment, the lack of clarity risks adding instability rather than addressing Nigeria’s complex security challenges.
