The United States is set to send approximately 200 troops to Nigeria to provide training to the local forces in the fight against Islamist militants, a U.S. official confirmed.
The deployment comes weeks after President Donald Trump ordered airstrikes against what he described as Islamic State targets in Nigeria.
In recent times, the U.S. military acknowledged that it had sent a small team of personnel to Nigeria, marking the first official presence of U.S. forces on the ground since the Christmas Day airstrikes.
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Moreover, Trump has signaled that additional military action in Nigeria may follow and revealed that the U.S. had been conducting surveillance flights from Ghana since at least late November 2025.
Subsequently, the 200 troops will join a limited number of U.S. military personnel already there to bolster the training and operational capacity of Nigerian forces.
Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) have intensified attacks on both military convoys and civilians, particularly in Nigeria’s northwest, which has remained the epicenter of a 17-year Islamist insurgency.
Nigeria, with a population of over 230 million, is roughly split between Christians, mainly in the south, and Muslims, primarily in the north.
The deployment underscores growing U.S. concern over Nigeria’s ability to counter insurgent groups and protect vulnerable communities amid escalating violence.
