Norinco under fire for supplying inferior armoured vehicles to Nigeria

Nigerian Army’s new Chief of Staff General Ibrahim Attahiru has warned China’s leading defense equipment manufacturer Norinco that it could be sanctioned and excluded from future military equipment supply contracts after several recently delivered armoured combat vehicles suffered technical problems.

Norinco could likely be blacklisted from participating in further bidding in military procurement processes the Army Chief warned.

Around April last year, China’s state-owned NORINCO delivered 17 armored combat vehicles including artillery trucks, six VT4 main battle tanks (a variant of the MBT-3000), six ST1 tank destroyers, three SH2 and two SH5 105 mm self-propelled artillery to the Nigerian Army (NA).

The business was worth $152 million which included maintenance and training packages. During the bidding process, Norinco touted the flexible maintenance and durability of its equipment, as well as it’s suitability in low-intensity conflict like in Nigeria as a major selling point.

These factors prompted Nigeria to snap up orders for several of the type, making the West African country the first in the world to operate these armored vehicles.

However, it seems that the vehicles are not as effective as advertised, and some has completely failed to fulfill even the most basic factory stated specifications. Several of the vehicles including VT-4 main battle tanks, ST-1 fire support vehicles, SH2 and SH5 105 mm self-propelled artillery are suffering mechanical issues on the battlefield, sometimes requiring to be towed back to base.

Chinese weaponry is increasingly attracting patronage mainly as a result of its cost-effectiveness, although they are often less advanced than those sold by other countries.

For several years now, China has gained a solid foothold in Africa, since 2008, African nations collectively purchased around 21 per cent ($3 billion since 2008) of China’s overall arms exports.

An Overview of China’s arms exports to Africa

The top five arms importers in sub-Saharan Africa within that period are Nigeria, Angola, Sudan, Cameroon and Senegal. Together, these countries accounted for 56% of arms imports to the subregion.

Nigeria: Final battle begins

At the time of purchasing the armoured vehicles from China, the Nigerian Army was neck-deep in the fight to end the insurgency even at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Nigerian Army launched “Operation Tura Takaibango” on 3 January, -a large and aggressive offensive under the well-known Operation Lafiya Dole to completely rid the dreaded Alagarno forest of terrorist elements.

Hence, the military was in dire need of these equipment. And within a few weeks of being introduced into the theatre, Nigeria placed order for additional armoured vehicles.

Nigeria receives more VT4, ST1 tanks, SH2, SH4 self-propelled artillery, and KIA tactical vehicles

This is not the first time Norinco is being criticized for supplying low-quality equipment to an African country. A fleet of Chinese-made Norinco VN1 8×8 infantry fighting vehicles (the export version of its ZBL-08) acquired by Gabon has also been reported to be problematic.

The Norinco VN1 8×8 armoured vehicles were delivered in 2019, and are operated by Gabon’s country’s elite Republican Guard (GR).

Persistent mechanical issues attributed to the VN1’s locomotion system prevented Gabon from deploying it’s troops to the UN peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA).