Nigeria's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, has stated that the federal government prefers foreign powers, including the United States, to offer supportive assistance through intelligence sharing, equipment, and logistics rather than direct military intervention involving troop deployments on Nigerian soil.
Speaking during a discussion on regional security at Chatham House in London, Tuggar emphasized the complexity of insecurity in Nigeria and the broader West African Sahel region, which includes insurgencies, banditry, and cross-border threats around the Lake Chad basin.
“I would say an indirect role, a supportive role, as opposed to taking a more direct approach that would see perhaps boots on the ground and engagement because it’s a very complex region,” Tuggar said.
“What we need is support. Nigeria and other forces in the region have shown that with the right support, with the right equipment, we’re capable of restoring peace in our region. We’ve done it in the past. I mentioned Sierra Leone. I mentioned Liberia and what ECOMOG was able to achieve in the past.”
He pointed to historical successes by the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) in Liberia and Sierra Leone as models of regionally led efforts backed by international support, contrasting them with more direct foreign interventions that could complicate local dynamics.
The minister's remarks come amid ongoing U.S.-Nigeria security cooperation, including the recent deployment of a limited number of U.S. military personnel for training, advisory roles, and intelligence sharing arrangements initiated at Nigeria's request and explicitly non-combat in nature.
Nigerian officials have repeatedly clarified that full operational command remains with Nigerian forces.
Tuggar also addressed characterizations of violence in Nigeria, rejecting claims of a targeted “Christian genocide” and stressing that insecurity stems from multifaceted causes, including criminality, farmer-herder conflicts, and external factors like instability in Libya that have fueled weapon proliferation and terrorist relocation.
Ghana’s Foreign Minister Samuel Ablakwa, participating in related discussions, echoed the need for nuance, noting that terrorism threatens the global community and has roots in international actions in places like Afghanistan, Syria, and Libya, which have displaced extremists to West Africa.
Nigeria continues to advocate for strengthened regional mechanisms, such as the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) and the Accra Initiative, to combat extremism while welcoming international backing that respects sovereignty and empowers local capabilities.
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