Nigeria, US launch defence working groups as insecurity worsens despite troops, drone support

Nigeria and the United States have inaugurated Defence Institutional Technical Working Groups (DITWGs) under the 2026 Defence Cooperation Roadmap, in a renewed effort to deepen military collaboration amid escalating insecurity across the country.

This was disclosed in a statement issued late Tuesday by Samaila Uba, the spokesperson for Nigeria’s Defence Headquarters (DHQ).

The initiative comes against the backdrop of expanded US military support, including the deployment of about 200 troops and MQ-9 surveillance drones reportedly operating from Bauchi State. The deployment, which began in February following diplomatic tensions tied to Christian genocide allegations by US President Donald Trump and the subsequent airstrikes in North-west Nigeria, was designed to provide intelligence gathering and training support to Nigerian forces rather than direct combat operations, Mr Uba had said.

US and Nigerian officials said the drones, capable of long-endurance surveillance, are being used strictly for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, with American personnel operating in advisory roles and not embedded on the frontlines. This was after many Nigerians raised concerns about the involvement of foreign military forces in internal security operations.

Despite these interventions, security conditions have continued to deteriorate. Insurgent groups, particularly Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), have intensified attacks on military formations and civilian communities across northern Nigeria. Recent incidents, including deadly assaults and suicide bombings in the North-east, show the persistence and adaptability of extremist groups, raising concerns about the effectiveness of current strategies.

The DITWGs

At the inauguration ceremony, the head of the US delegation, Cate Dave, said the working groups would focus on strengthening institutional capacity and improving strategic planning to deny terrorists safe havens. He stressed that long-term counterterrorism success depends on building resilient defence systems, not just battlefield gains.

Nigeria’s delegation leader, Francis Edosa, an air vice marshal, said the partnership would enhance the warfighting capabilities of the Armed Forces of Nigeria and improve responsiveness to evolving threats across the country and the wider region.

“Both sides stressed the need for practical outcomes, accountability and sustained collaboration to enhance security and regional stability,” Mr Uba, the DHQ spokesperson stated.

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US drones deployed to Nigeria alongside troops for intelligence, training

The U.S. military has multiple MQ-9 drones operating in Nigeria alongside 200 troops to provide training and intelligence support to the military, which is fighting Islamist militants across the north, U.S. and Nigerian officials told Reuters.

The troops are not integrated within Nigerian units on the frontline and the drones are collecting intelligence and not carrying out airstrikes, officials from the two countries said.

However, the U.S. deployment, which follows U.S. airstrikes targeting militants in northwest Nigeria in late 2025, shows the U.S. getting back involved in tackling Islamic State and al Qaeda-linked insurgencies that are spreading across West Africa.

The U.S. military previously had a $100 million drone base in neighbouring Niger with about 1,000 troops monitoring militants across the Sahel region, but that was closed in 2024 after the Niger junta requested their departure, part of a broader rejection of western military support by countries in the Sahel region.

An assault by suicide bombers on a northeastern Nigerian garrison town this week showed how a 17-year insurgency there can still strike urban centres.

Meanwhile, militants have stepped up their attacks in the northwest, near the border with Benin and Niger, where a long-running banditry crisis risks mutating into another operating zone for Islamists.

A U.S. defence official said the drones had been deployed alongside troops at the request of the Nigerians to collect intelligence. “We see this as a shared security threat,” the official said.

Major General Samaila Uba, director of defence information at Nigeria’s Defence Headquarters, confirmed that the U.S. was operating assets from Bauchi airfield in the northeast.

“This support builds on the newly established U.S.-Nigeria intelligence fusion cell, which continues to deliver actionable intelligence to our field commanders,” he told Reuters. “Our U.S. partners remain in a strictly non-combat role, enabling operations led by Nigerian authorities.”


‘IDENTIFY, TRACK AND RESPOND’

Uba said the timeline for the U.S. deployment in Nigeria would be determined in agreement by both sides.

MQ-9 drones, which are sometimes known as Reaper drones and can loiter at high altitude for more than 27 hours, can be used for both intelligence gathering and airstrikes.

Neither Uba nor the U.S. official would comment on specific cases where U.S. intelligence had led to the Nigerians targeting militants, but Uba said that U.S. forces were helping Nigeria “identify, track and respond to terrorist threats”.

Late last year, Reuters reported that aircraft based in Ghana had been conducting intelligence gathering flights for the U.S. military over Nigeria.

MILITANTS REMAIN A PERSISTENT THREAT

The United States – which has had a long partnership with Nigeria’s military, providing training and selling weapons – said it carried out airstrikes in the northwest on Christmas Day to stop the targeting of Christians in the region.

Nigeria’s government and experts on the conflict have rejected claims of a concerted anti-Christian campaign, saying it oversimplifies a complex crisis.

It was not immediately clear who carried out the March 16 attack on the garrison town.

Uba said it was still being investigated, adding that both Boko Haram militants and ISWAP, an Islamic State-allied faction, remain a persistent threat, adapting their tactics over time.

“We continue to assess that these organisations will seek opportunistic targets and may attempt to demonstrate relevance through high-visibility attacks,” he said.

By David Lewis, Reuters

Video - President Buhari set to meet Donald Trump in Washington

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari is set to meet US President Donald Trump in Washington, DC, to discuss economic and military ties.

The meeting on Monday will mark the second time Buhari sits down with a US president in the three years he has been in power - the first being with Barack Obama in 2015.

Buhari, who came into office promising to defeat Boko Haram has just a year left of his first term. But the armed group still poses a significant threat to Nigeria, as attacks in the northeast of the country continue to take place.

Reporting from Nigeria's capital, Abuja, Al Jazeera's Ahmed Idris said Buhari hopes to use his visit to the White House to acquire military hardware to fight Boko Haram.

"In the heart of the Nigerian president will be his three-pronged agenda to secure Nigeria, to revive the economy and to fight corruption," Femi Adesina, the media adviser to Nigeria's president, told Al Jazeera.

But with the invitation coming from the White House, some believe the meeting could focus more on what the Americans want.

"Inviting the Nigerian president is important to see how Nigeria can be co-opted to be part of the Western geopolitical interests," economist Basil Odilim Enwegbara said.

The talks take place at a time when both the US and China are looking to strengthen financial relations with Africa.

Buhari is the first leader from sub-Saharan Africa to visit the White House since Trump took office more than a year ago.

Al Jazeera