After protracted bureaucratic foot dragging, the US State Department has finally approved the sale of 12 A-29 Super Tucano attack planes worth $593 million to Nigeria.

The sale which is to be accompanied with associated spare parts, training facilities and weapons, was approved by the US Congress on August 2, after the Defence Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) certified it.

The A-29s which are equipped with wing-mounted machine guns, weapons integration, advanced surveillance, precision-guided bombs and air-to-air missiles are to be used by the Nigeria Army in combating the dreaded Boko Haram Islamist terrorists and other extremist organizations.

Apart from being used as a training aircraft, the Embraer A-29 Tucano is designed mainly for counter-insurgency operations and close air support operations in territories with inadequate air defences.

Previous attempts by the Nigerian government to purchase the planes under the Barrack Obama administration were scuttled by accusations of human rights abuses leveled against the Nigerian military in their anti-terrorism campaigns in the  north eastern part of the country.