Associated Press including CLASSIKOLIC reported yesterday that Nigeria Military purchased Military aircraft from US in a deal valued at $593 million. The purchase of the aircraft, the A-29 Super Tucano is coming at the right time for Nigeria and will serve a great purpose in Nigeria's quest to end Boko Haram insurgency and will be a low cost (probably better) option to Nigeria's F-7 and Alpha Jets which the Nigerian Air Force has been using for aerial strafing of Boko Haram fortress and for surveillance and reconnaissance missions. Also considering the fact that they will be brand new, news of them crashing should be far from them; at least for a while.
The A-29 Super Tucano, a derivative of the Embraer Tucano is "an agile , propeller - driven plane with attack as well as reconnaissance and surveillance capabilities. it is produced in Brazil by Embraer. The aircraft can fly missions even in complex environment like Desert, jungles, forest, during the day or at night and is equipped with the appropriate sensors and weapons with the right set of ordinance to pack a formidable firepower in low threat environment.
Though, the news of the purchase of the aircraft is a heart warming news, but people were quick to notice some flaws in the deal.
Considering the high level of corrupt pratices that has been recorded within the ranks of the Nigerian Military in the past, questions are already being raise about the value of the deal.
According to Wikipedia, "The Super Tucano costs more than $10 million each and the price can go much higher depending on the configuration", it also confirmed that "with the highest level of configuration, the highest a unit of Super Tucano can ever go for is $14 million.
Though a drop dead novice in the twist and turns that guide that military procurement and deals but it is without an argument that there will be hidden charges like, transportation of equipment, clearing, administrative charges, or most probably, training of personnel (Nigerian Pilot), weapons and missiles to be used by the aircraft, spares and some other minors I may know. But I strongly doubt it that there is Insurance deal in it.
Now the main part, let's say Nigeria will get the best possible configuration which will take the unit cost to the aircraft to $14 million, and we are getting 12 unit of it. My calculations put the whole thing at $168 million. (let's round it up to $170 million). The value of the deal is $593 million, minus the $170 million for the 12 aircrafts, that will give us $423 million remaining. This $423 million is enough to buy us 30 more aircraft for $14 million each. But some other things still need to be taking care of , but is $423 million which is almost triple the value of the 12 aircraft not too outrageous for add ons...?
Though this article is not written to accuse any body/agency or personality of corrupt practices, but some people just feel like some things does'nt match up.
Purely Classikolic
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