Six Super Tucano jets to arrive Nigeria in August – Emefiele

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, said on Tuesday six Super Tucano fighter jets purchased by the Federal Government would arrive the country from the United States in August.

Emefiele, who disclosed this to journalists at the end of a two-day Monetary Policy Committee meeting in Abuja, decried the worsening insecurity in the country.

He urged the Boko Haram insurgents, bandits and other criminals to drop their weapons and be a part of the CBN’s Anchor Borrowers’ Programme put in place to boost food production in the country.

The federal government had in 2018 paid $496 million to the US government for the purchase of 12 fighter jets to be used by the Nigerian Air Force in the ongoing military operations against the insurgents and other criminals terrorizing the citizens in various parts of the country.

The CBN governor said: “If you want an economy to grow, the level of insecurity must be low because if there is a high level of insecurity like what we see today, the economy will suffer.

READ ALSO: Presidency expects delivery of 6 of the 12 Tucano jets in July

“Efforts are now targeted at South-East and North- East parts of the country. About three years ago, the Federal Government and the United States signed a pact that resulted in a government-to-government acquisition of military equipment

“Out of which, we are expecting 12 fighter planes that would help us solve our insecurity. I am aware that six of them are coming to the country in the month of July and August.

“I, therefore, would like to appeal to our brothers, who decide that they want to live in bushes and forests that they should please, begin to retreat, drop their arms and come and embrace the anchor borrowers’ programme.

“If they do so, it will help them; if they choose not to do so, they will be confronted by the security as this battle continues.”

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