FEC approves €443m, $141m loans for procurement of six fighter jets

The federal executive council (FEC) has approved €443 million and $141 million loans for the procurement of six fighter aircraft and ammunition for the Nigerian Air Force (NAF).

Mohammed Idris, minister of information and national orientation, spoke to journalists about this at the end of the weekly FEC meeting on Wednesday in Abuja.

The FEC meeting was presided by President Bola Tinubu.

Idris said the credit facility for the procurement of the fighter jets is from a “group of financiers”.

“The third one is that council gave approval to obtain a credit facility in a sum of 443,330,781.49 euros and another $141 million from a group of financiers for the procurement of six units of M346 fighter aircraft and ammunition for the Nigerian Air Force,” Idris said.

The minister did not disclose the identities of the “group of financiers”.

In April 2024, NAF announced that it will take delivery of six M-346 fighter aircraft before the end of 2024.

In November 2023, NAF struck a deal with Messrs Leonardo, an Italian defence company, for the supply of 24 M-346 fighter aircraft.

The deal is reportedly worth around €1.2 billion.

In October 2024, NAF authorities visited Italy to finalise the arrangement of 24 M-346 fighter ground attack (FGA) jets and 10 AW-109 Trekker helicopters.

The minister also announced that FEC approved contracts of N44.2 billion for the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to procure vehicles and construct residential apartments.