By Achile Danjuma
The United States has deployed multiple MQ-9 drones alongside around 200 troops to Nigeria to provide intelligence and training support to the Nigerian military in its ongoing fight against insurgents across the northern region.
The operation is strictly focused on surveillance and advisory support, with no US personnel embedded in frontline units and no drone airstrikes being conducted.
“The U.S. military has multiple MQ-9 drones operating in Nigeria alongside 200 troops to provide training and intelligence support to the military,” U.S. and Nigerian officials told Reuters.
According to Reuters on Saturday, the deployment was requested by Nigerian authorities to help identify, track, and respond to terrorist threats in the region.
“We see this as a shared security threat,” a U.S. defence official told Reuters, underscoring that the mission is limited to intelligence collection and advisory support.
Major General Samaila Uba, director of defence information at Nigeria’s Defence Headquarters, confirmed that U.S. forces are operating 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. Our U.S. partners remain in a strictly non-combat role, enabling operations led by Nigerian authorities,” he said.
The MQ-9 drones, sometimes called Reaper drones, are capable of loitering at high altitude for more than 27 hours and can perform both intelligence gathering and strike missions.
The US and Nigerian officials clarified that the aircraft currently in Nigeria are being used exclusively for surveillance. “Our US forces are helping Nigeria identify, track and respond to terrorist threats,” Uba said, without elaborating on specific operations.
The deployment comes amid escalating violence in Nigeria’s northeast and northwest. On March 16, suicide bombers attacked a garrison town in the northeast, underscoring the continued threat from Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).
“We continue to assess that these organisations will seek opportunistic targets and may attempt to demonstrate relevance through high-visibility attacks,” Uba said.
The Nigerian military said the duration of the current U.S. deployment will be determined in agreement with its American partners. The mission underscores an intensifying focus on intelligence-sharing and capacity-building in response to evolving insurgent threats across northern Nigeria.
The United States deployment follows American airstrikes on Christmas Day, ordered under President Donald Trump, targeting ISIS-linked terrorist elements in northwest Nigeria. The Federal Government confirmed that the strikes were part of a coordinated security partnership with international allies aimed at combating terrorism and violent extremism.
In February, the United States had deployed roughly 200 troops to Nigeria to provide training and operational support to the country’s military in its fight against Islamist militants. An American military official said that the deployment came weeks after President Trump criticised Nigeria for failing to protect Christians from terrorist attacks.
The report noted that the troops were expected to strengthen Nigeria’s counterterrorism capacity, particularly through training programs and intelligence support.