The United States government has approved $413 million to support counter-insurgency and broader security operations in Nigeria and other parts of West Africa during the 2026 fiscal year. The approval followed the signing of the United States National Defence Authorisation Act into law in December 2025.
The funding is part of the budget of the United States Africa Command, known as AFRICOM, and comes at a time of growing security challenges across the West African region. It is included in a wider defence spending plan that authorises $901 billion in total military expenditure for the United States. The law also provides a four per cent pay increase for American service members and marks the 65th consecutive year the defence budget has been approved by Congress.
While the legislation does not break down the $413 million by individual countries, the figure represents the full amount requested by AFRICOM for its operations and maintenance activities across Africa for the year. The funding is expected to support logistics, training, intelligence sharing and other security-related efforts in areas facing persistent threats.
Nigeria remains at the centre of many of the region’s security concerns. The country continues to battle a long-running insurgency in the North-East, rising cases of bandit attacks in the North-West, and piracy and other maritime crimes in the Gulf of Guinea. Similar challenges are also affecting neighbouring countries, including renewed militant pressure in Mali and cross-border attacks in northern Benin linked to instability in the Sahel region.
In recent weeks, security cooperation between the United States and Nigeria has increased. AFRICOM confirmed that military equipment had been delivered to Nigerian security agencies in Abuja as part of ongoing support for the country’s security operations. According to the command, “This delivery supports Nigeria’s ongoing operations and emphasises our shared security partnership.”
The growing engagement also follows air strikes carried out on Christmas Day 2025 on suspected terrorist hideouts in Sokoto State. The strikes were conducted in coordination with Nigerian authorities and point to deeper cooperation between both countries, including operational support and intelligence sharing aimed at weakening extremist groups.
Beyond funding for military activities, the new defence law introduces several policy changes related to Africa. It creates a new position of Assistant Secretary for African Affairs at the United States Department of State and establishes a Bureau of African Affairs to better coordinate American foreign policy and assistance across sub-Saharan Africa.
The legislation further calls for a detailed review of Russia’s military presence and activities on the African continent. The outcome of this review is expected to influence future strategic planning involving AFRICOM, the United States Central Command and the United States European Command, as Washington reassesses its security posture in the region.