THE United States spent more than $30 million on missiles used in its Christmas Day military strike on suspected terrorists in Nigeria, according to an investigation by The Washington Post.
The investigation revealed that the US military fired 16 Tomahawk cruise missiles, each costing about $2 million, from a Navy ship in the Gulf of Guinea during the operation ordered by President Donald Trump.
The Tomahawk cruise missile is a precision-guided weapon launched from ships and submarines, capable of hitting targets up to 1,000 miles away, including in heavily defended airspace.
The report added that “Each Tomahawk missile is around 3,000 pounds, with warheads inside weighing around 1,000 pounds, according to the Pentagon. They come equipped with onboard cameras that send images of the target to military operators, giving them visibility during flight.
“An individual Tomahawk costs around $2 million, according to estimates from the Defence Department, which means the strike on Nigeria used more than $30 million in weaponry.”
The strike was carried out in parts of northwestern Nigeria, with the US government claiming it targeted Islamic State-linked militants.
However, the Washington Post found that at least four of the 16 missiles failed to explode, raising questions about the effectiveness and cost-efficiency of the operation.
The unexploded warheads were reportedly recovered in communities across Offa and Oro in Kwara, Zugurma in Niger and Jabo in Sokoto states.
The US and Nigerian officials confirmed that the missiles were part of the same operation, suggesting a failure rate of about 25 per cent.
“The 16 missiles U.S. and Nigerian officials said were fired on Christmas night came from a Navy ship in the Gulf of Guinea. If four did not explode, as the evidence suggests, that would place the failure rate at 25 per cent — a surprisingly elevated figure for a missile that reported a 90 per cent success rate more than two decades ago, according to the U.S. Naval Institute,” part of the report read.
Analysts quoted by the newspaper said the failures could have resulted from mechanical faults, navigational errors or deliberate diversion by the war commanders after targets changed.
This was, however, in contrast with the federal government’s claims that debris from the operation was responsible for the incidents reported in Offa and parts of Sokoto.
“During the course of the operation, debris from expended munitions fell in Jabo, Tambuwal Local Government Area of Sokoto State, and in Offa, Kwara State, near the premises of a hotel. No civilian casualties were recorded in either location, and relevant authorities promptly secured the affected areas,” a statement by the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, said.
The investigation further noted that while the US government claimed the strikes killed “multiple ISIS terrorists,” both Nigerian and Western analysts questioned whether the operation hit high-value targets.
Analysts who also spoke with the newspaper suggested the missiles may have targeted members of Lakurawa, a relatively small militant group in northwest Nigeria whose links to the Islamic State remain disputed.
Residents in affected Nigerian communities told The Washington Post that the unexploded missiles caused damage to homes and farmland, leaving civilians fearful and demanding greater transparency from both the Nigerian and US governments over the strike and its consequences.
The ICIR reported that although no deaths were recorded in Offa, victims reported collapsed walls, blown-off roofs and destroyed shops, while security agencies cordoned off the affected areas.
Reacting to the latest confirmation, residents renewed calls for support and compensation for victims whose properties were destroyed during the incident.
Mustapha Usman is an investigative journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: musman@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M