The United States military is increasing materiel deliveries and intelligence sharing with Nigeria as part of a broader push to work with African militaries against Islamic State-linked militants, the deputy commander of US Africa Command has said.
The expanded cooperation reflects Washington’s evolving security posture on the continent amid growing concern over the spread of jihadist groups across West Africa.
Lieutenant General John Brennan told AFP that the Pentagon has also maintained communication with militaries in junta-led Sahel countries, including Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali, despite diplomatic and political challenges. He said the increased engagement with Abuja follows US diplomatic pressure on Nigeria over jihadist violence, as well as a shift toward a more assertive American military approach to IS-linked threats in Africa.
Under the Trump administration, Brennan said the US military has become “more aggressive” in targeting such groups. “We’ve gotten a lot more aggressive and (are) working with partners to target, kinetically, the threats, mainly ISIS,” he said during an interview on the sidelines of a US-Nigeria security meeting held in Abuja last week.
“From Somalia to Nigeria, the problem set is connected. So we’re trying to take it apart and then provide partners with the information they need,” he added.
He said the emphasis has been on enabling partner forces by providing equipment and capabilities with fewer restrictions. “It’s been about more enabling partners and then providing them equipment and capabilities with less restrictions so that they can be more successful.”
The comments followed the inaugural US-Nigeria Joint Working Group meeting, which took place about a month after the United States announced surprise Christmas Day air strikes on IS-linked targets in northwestern Nigeria. While both militaries appear keen to deepen cooperation following the joint strikes, the relationship has also been shaped by diplomatic pressure from Washington over claims by former President Donald Trump of mass killings of Christians in Nigeria.
Nigerian authorities and independent analysts have rejected that characterisation, noting that Nigeria’s security challenges involve multiple, overlapping conflicts that cut across religious and ethnic lines. Africa’s most populous country is roughly evenly divided between a predominantly Muslim north and a largely Christian south, with millions living peacefully alongside one another despite a history of sectarian violence.
Tensions around the issue were evident at the Abuja meeting, where Allison Hooker, a senior US State Department official, urged the Nigerian government to “protect Christians” in remarks that did not reference Muslim victims of armed groups.
Brennan said US intelligence support would not be limited to protecting Christians. He explained that following the US strikes in northwestern Sokoto State, American assistance would focus on intelligence sharing to support Nigerian air operations in that area as well as in the northeast, where Boko Haram and its Islamic State-aligned splinter group, Islamic State West Africa Province, have waged an insurgency since 2009.
Islamic State West Africa Province, he said, is “our most concerning group”.
Analysts have observed increased US intelligence flights over Nigeria in recent months, although some have questioned whether air support alone can significantly weaken armed groups operating amid poverty and fragile state presence in rural areas.
Brennan said future US-Nigeria cooperation would involve “the whole gamut of intel sharing, sharing… tactics, techniques, and procedures, as well as enabling them to procure more equipment.”
He said the initial Christmas Day strikes targeted militants linked to Islamic State Sahel Province, a group more commonly active in neighbouring Niger, and warned of concerns among analysts about the group’s potential expansion from the Sahel into coastal West African countries such as Nigeria.
The impact of the strikes remains unclear, as local and international journalists have been unable to independently confirm militant casualties. Nigeria’s Minister of Information, Mohammed Idris, said last week that the outcome was “still a work in progress”.
Beyond Nigeria, Brennan said the US continues to collaborate with military authorities in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, despite the suspension of formal security cooperation following coups that toppled civilian governments in the three countries between 2020 and 2023.
“We have actually shared information with some of them to attack key terrorist targets,” he said. “We still talk to our military partners across the Sahelian states, even though it’s not official.”
Brennan also said the United States is not seeking to replace its former military presence in Niger after American troops were expelled by the ruling junta. “We’re not in the market to create a drone base anywhere,” he said, referring to the closed US drone facility in Agadez.
“We are much more focused on getting capability to the right place at the right time and then leaving. We don’t seek long-term basing in any of the western African countries.”
