The Nigerian Navy was once the largest, best trained and best equipped Navy in Sub Sahara Africa, second only to the South African Navy. It competed with the Nigerian army for primacy and was by far the most sophisticated component of the Nigerian armed forces. Characterized by hierarchical structure, deep branch distinctions, and a preference for operating forward and independently from the other services, the Nigerian Air Navy valued technology above all else and was highly effective in competing for resources. Italy provided the bulk of the Nigerian Navy’s arsenal and the strong defence rel ..read more

A decade ago the thought of Chinese military bases in Africa was as far fetched as a Nigeria sending an astronought to Mars. Today China’s military footprint in Africa is approaching those of the United States and France, and growing rapidly. The most prominent Chinese base in Africa is of course Dbibout, but less known is Chinese military presence in Zimbabwe. But Why Zimbabwe?  In 2000 the President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugagbe did two things that will go down as one of the most senseless “economic reform” ever carried out by a country’s President. Zimbabwe’ unidentified farmers who were faci ..read more

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Back in the May 1975 the Economic Community of West African States was the first geopolitical and economic alliance in post independent Africa. A tool by Nigeria to counter French economic influence in the majority francophone region. Awash with new found oil wealth the Nigerian government did not mind shouldering the economic burden in the formative period. The Presidents Economic Council promised that ECOWAS would result in an increase in the number of high quality jobs for Nigerians and that it would reduce illegal immigration, a situation that was becoming a cause for concern with as many ..read more

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Officials of the Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) has advised the Nigerian government to find a permanent solution to the challenge of smuggling. In a statement released on Tuesday, the bloc said the border closure might hamper the implementation of free trade movement within the region. Addressing parliamentarians at the ongoing 2nd extraordinary session of the ECOWAS parliament in Monrovia, Moustapha Lo, speaker of the ECOWAS parliament, requested that the Nigerian government reopens its borders. Lo said the closure happened at a time when Africa was working to intensify e ..read more

Over the weekend my attention was drawn to an article written by a nameless author on an obscure blog, which was obviously sponsored to deliberately tarnish the image of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) and malign the outstanding achievements of the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar. It is evident that the writer is grossly misinformed and his sponsors did not even provide him with sufficient information to make a credible argument; hence his obviously one-sided write-up fraught with inaccuracies and misrepresentations. Fortunately, many right thinking individuals, convers ..read more

The Republic of Djibouti has becone the central arch point in Africa. It holds military bases from France, United States, Japan, Italy and since 2017, China, and is in talks with India, Saudi Arabia and the UAE for hosting military bases.  No other country in the world has so many military bases. Before it’s Independence Djibouti was controlled by France as a colony for almost 100 years. While British and Italian Somaliland united in 1960 to form the Somali Republic and achieve Independence, Djibouti remained under French control. Seventeen years and three referendum later Djibouti reached its ..read more

Nigerians have been the main targets in the recent xenophobic attacks against migrants. That is no surprise. The majority of shops looted and business razed to the ground are owned by Nigerians . That’s no surprise. However, the reaction, or lack thereof from Abuja has been the biggest surprise. It took days for the Nigerian government to issue out a public condemnation of the attacks. It took massive protests by Nigerians and threats of attacks against South African investments for the Nigerian government to finally  (under pressure) act, recalling its Ambassador from Pretoria and pulled out ..read more

Though not among the Top Ten airforce in Africa, Zambia has a small but rapidly expanding air force. The primary missions of the Air Force are to defend Zambia’s borders and protect its airspace. In addition, it provides various forms of air support to other government departments. It also flies reconnaissance, trooping and transport missions for the police and airlifts medical supplies and personnel to inaccessib e areas. Here are some of the most impressive assets of the Zambian Air Force. Zambia has 54 combat capable fixed wing aircraft in service. Hongdu L-15 Fighter/Attack Aircraft The fr ..read more