The federal government says it will not accept the conditions given by the United States to sell fighter jets worth $494 million to the country.

Mansur Dan-Ali, minister of defence, said this on Thursday while briefing state house correspondents on the outcome of the Security Council meeting in Abuja.

Part of the conditions for the 12 A-29 Super Tucano fighter jets, according to the minister, is that the sale will not be made until 2020.

Also, Nigerian technicians will not be trained by US staff neither will they be part of maintenance crews.

But addressing the journalists, Dan-Ali said: “These conditions, we will not accept.

“They are also thinking of not allowing our technicians to be part of the production inspection.

“But this is what we normally do in all the defence contracts, we send our personnel to go and understudy, especially when it comes to specialized aircrafts like in Russia, our personnel are permanently based in where the production is being done for this MI35 helicopters.”

He said the federal government plans to meet with the US ambassador to discuss reducing the conditions.

“Payments will be made when the conditions are reduced,” he added.

‘KiILLINGS IN BENUE, TARABA, ARE COMMUNUAL ISSUES’

Dan-Ali also said the killings recorded in Benue and Taraba states are communual issues.

At least 100 persons have been killed in separate attacks orchestrated by suspected herdsmen in Benue and Taraba states.

The minister said militias were also discovered to have been killing some persons as well.

“In the killings you are talking about, there are militias involved,” he said.

“Some people were caught with arms and they call themselves Forest Guards or whatever, with AK47. There is nowhere in this country where arms are allowed to be carried apart of legitimate security forces.

“So anybody carrying any arm is doing so illegally. Militias were caught in the same land doing the same killings, so the killings are not done by any particular group, is a communal issue.”

He added: “Since the nation’s Independence, we know there use to be a route whereby the cattle rearers take because they are all over the nation. You go to Bayelsa, Ogun, you will see them. If those routes are blocked what do you expect will happen?

“These people are Nigerians. It is just like one going to block shoreline, does that make sense to you? These are the remote causes of the crisis.

“But the immediate cause is the (anti-open) grazing law. These people are Nigerians and we must learn to live together with each other. Communities and other people must learn how to accept foreigners within their enclave.”