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The United States is sending troops to Nigeria to help train the Nigerian military in fighting extremism, Nigerian authorities said on Feb. 11. Nigeria’s Defense Headquarters said the American personnel would stay in a technical and training role rather than combat, and that Nigerian forces would lead operations.
Maj. Gen. Samaila Uba, a spokesman for Nigeria’s Defense Headquarters, said the deployment would occur “at the invitation of the Government of Nigeria and in continuation of our longstanding security cooperation and military-to-military partnership with the United States.” He said the United States would provide “technical and training personnel,” with Nigerian forces retaining command authority.
Uba said the U.S. personnel would not engage in combat or take on a direct operational role. He said Nigerian forces would have “complete command authority,” assigning the day-to-day control of any security effort to Nigeria.
A U.S. official said around 200 U.S. troops were expected to arrive in Nigeria, speaking on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. The deployment, the report said, was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
The announcement lands amid a worsening security crisis in Nigeria’s north that has involved dozens of armed groups competing for territory, including militants linked to the Islamic State. Reporting described multiple factions, including Boko Haram and a breakaway faction called Islamic State West Africa Province, alongside a group known as Lakurawa and other bandit groups that specialize in kidnapping for ransom and illegal mining.
In recent months, analysts and residents have also said the crisis has spread to include additional militants from the neighboring Sahel region. The report said Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, a group linked to Islamic State, claimed its first attack on Nigerian soil last year.
The report also placed the U.S. troop plans in the context of prior U.S. military activity in Nigeria. It said that in December, U.S. forces launched airstrikes on Islamic State group-affiliated militants in northwestern Nigeria, and that last month the head of U.S. Africa Command confirmed a small team of U.S. military officers in Nigeria focused on intelligence support MSI previously reported on those officers.
Nigeria has been a focal point in Washington’s discussions in connection with allegations about violence targeting religious groups. The report said U.S. President Donald Trump previously said Nigeria was not protecting Christians from an alleged genocide, while the Nigerian government rejected the accusation; analysts said the situation is more complex than a single-faith framing, with people targeted regardless of religion.
Reporting said several thousand people have been killed in Nigeria’s protracted conflict, citing United Nations data. Analysts in the report said the government has not done enough to protect its citizens, adding that while Christians have been among those targeted, the majority of victims of the armed groups are Muslims in Nigeria’s Muslim-dominated north.