By
Ambassador Uzo Owunne*
The proposed deployment of additional U.S. troops to Nigeria for counter-terrorism training and intelligence support demands careful national reflection.
Security cooperation, in itself, is not inherently negative. Nigeria faces persistent threats from insurgent and extremist groups such as Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province, alongside widespread armed banditry. Strengthened surveillance systems, improved intelligence coordination, and enhanced tactical capacity are all necessary in confronting these threats.
However, international partnerships are rarely acts of charity. They are shaped by strategic calculations and national interests.
Nigeria’s Internal Challenge
Nigeria’s insecurity is fundamentally domestic. External assistance cannot resolve core structural weaknesses such as weak governance and corruption, poor troop welfare and equipment shortfalls, leakages in defence procurement, and political interference combined with limited accountability.
When defence spending fails to translate into operational effectiveness at the frontline, foreign assistance risks treating symptoms rather than causes. Sustainable security must be rooted in institutional reform, transparency, and leadership accountability within Nigeria itself.
The Reality of External Interests
Major powers engage abroad based on strategic objectives, whether geopolitical influence, regional stability calculations, or economic considerations.
When military assistance is reportedly quantified at tens of millions of dollars, it reinforces the transactional nature of such engagement. Nigeria must therefore ask critical questions about the long-term commitments that accompany this support, the strategic concessions embedded within cooperation agreements, and whether such engagement strengthens national sovereignty or gradually constrains it.
History suggests that foreign policy priorities can shift abruptly. When they do, smaller partner states may find themselves exposed.
The Lesson of Strategic Autonomy
The experience of countries like Afghanistan illustrates the risks of over-reliance on external military backing. When a superpower recalibrates its interests, domestic institutions must be strong enough to stand independently.
Nigeria must avoid constructing its security architecture around external saviours. Training programs and intelligence collaboration are valuable, but legitimacy, governance reform, and community-driven stabilization efforts must remain Nigerian-led.
The insurgency is not America’s war. It is Nigeria’s responsibility.
The Way Forward
If Nigeria is serious about restoring lasting stability, it must ensure that defence funds reach operational units, strengthen troop welfare and morale, reform procurement systems to close financial leakages, build indigenous intelligence and surveillance capacity, and maintain strategic clarity and balance in foreign military agreements.
Foreign partnerships should reinforce national capacity rather than substitute for it.
Final Reflection
No nation has successfully outsourced its sovereignty.
Missiles and military hardware alone do not secure peace. Accountability, institutional reform, public trust, and effective governance are the true pillars of national security. External assistance can support these efforts, but the responsibility for Nigeria’s safety ultimately rests at home.
