As part of efforts to help Nigeria overcome the continuous carnage inflicted in its citizens by terrorists and armed bandits,

The United States government on said it is willing to provide Intelligence to assist Nigeria identify sponsors of terrorism in the country.

US Ambasssdor to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard made this disclosure at a round-table interaction on US – Nigeria military cooperation with journalists at the US embassy in Abuja noting that discussion in this regard was ongoing.

Leonard’s comments followed the disclosure by Gen. Jeffrey Harrigian, the Commander of United States Europe and African Air Forces Command, that the induction of A-29 Super Tucano Fighter aircraft into Nigerian Air Force operations, will be a defining moment in combating terrorism and other violent extremism.

Gen Harrigian said, “The acquisition of the fighter aircraft for Nigerian military has brought in multitude of capabilities that would help in tackling the prevailing instability in Nigeria. This truly is an opportunity to bring together the capabilities on the human side and what the A-29 brings to the nation, particularly as it will contribute to the tackling insecurity, and instability not only in Nigeria but more broadly the region”.

Asked if US partnership with Nigeria would not collapse of Afghanistan in the face of violent uprising, Mrs Leonard dismissed such Fear saying “Nigeria has had a strong bilateral relationship with the US and that both situations are not the same.

“I hear people making the analogy with Afghanistan a lot, it does not match up. When you listen to what President Joe Biden said on how troops went to Afghanistan in the first place, it was because they were complicit in a horrible tragedy where over 3,000 Americans were killed.

“That is a different construct. The sovereign nations who have had strong bilateral relations. I don’t actually think the two match up.”

In the A-29 Super Tucano, Beth Leonard, said the induction of the Fighter aircraft was a significant milestone in the US – Nigerian bilateral relations assuring that the U.S. remains committed to support in Nigeria fighting insecurity.

Going forward, the US Commander said Mobile Training Teams would be deployed to Nigeria to make all necessary part of the Training in maintenance and other Requisite available to the Nigerian Airforce.