America has left; we’re to fix Nigeria

The withdrawal of most United States troops from Nigeria after a six-month counterterrorism operation should provoke sober reflection rather than political celebration or needless anxiety. It is a moment that ought to remind Nigerians of a simple but profound truth: no foreign power will solve our internal security crisis for us.

According to the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM), the deployment achieved its principal objective. Working alongside Nigerian forces, American troops helped neutralised nearly 200 Islamic State fighters in the Lake Chad region, including Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, described as the terrorist group’s global second-in-command. The operation reportedly disrupted the communication network and operational capacity of the Islamic State in West Africa and its affiliates. With that accomplished, most of the combat troops have departed, leaving behind intelligence-sharing and technical cooperation with Nigerian security agencies.

That is precisely what serious nations do. They pursue their national interests. The United States came because it regarded the activities of international terrorist organisations operating within Nigeria as part of a broader global security threat. It executed that mission and left. It neither promised nor intended to resolve Nigeria’s wider security challenges.

Those who expected foreign troops to intervene in Nigeria’s communal conflicts, banditry or kidnappings have now been proved wrong. The US did not deploy soldiers to Benue, Plateau, Taraba, Niger, Katsina or Zamfara to fight local disputes. Instead, it concentrated almost entirely on dismantling international terrorist infrastructure around the Lake Chad Basin and, to a lesser extent, extremist elements linked to the Lakurawa group in parts of Sokoto State. Washington’s concern was transnational terrorism, not Nigeria’s domestic governance failures. That distinction is crucial.

For months, some foreign politicians and advocacy groups portrayed Nigeria as a country descending into religious genocide, with repeated claims that Christians were being systematically targeted. Nigerian authorities consistently rejected that narrative, maintaining that victims of violence include Muslims, Christians and adherents of other faiths, depending on the nature and location of each conflict.

Whatever one’s position on that debate, one fact is now beyond dispute. When the United States eventually deployed troops into Nigeria, it did not wage war on behalf of any religion or ethnic group. It did not intervene in Benue or Plateau because of allegations of attacks on Christians. It did not enter Zamfara because villages were under siege by bandits, nor Katsina because kidnappers had terrorised communities. Rather, it confronted an internationally recognised terrorist organisation whose activities threatened regional and global security.

That reality should finally bury the dangerous illusion that foreign governments will intervene to settle Nigeria’s domestic conflicts.

The truth is that many of Nigeria’s persistent security crises are largely self-inflicted. Across parts of the North Central, disputes over land, grazing routes, mineral resources and political influence have been allowed to fester for decades. Instead of addressing these underlying issues, political actors often exploit religion and ethnicity to mobilise support while diverting attention from poor governance, poverty and institutional failure.

Likewise, in parts of the North West, criminality has evolved into organised banditry and mass kidnapping. Local grievances have become violent enterprises sustained by illegal mining, arms trafficking, ransom payments and weak law enforcement. These are not wars that foreign armies will fight.

The United States was never going to pursue local criminal kingpins simply because they terrorise Nigerian communities. Those responsible for kidnapping, village raids and cattle rustling may be dreaded within Nigeria, but they do not automatically qualify as international security priorities. They remain Nigeria’s responsibility, and that responsibility rests squarely with governments at every level.

The elimination of scores of Islamic State fighters has undoubtedly weakened an important component of international terrorism operating within Nigeria. It has disrupted command structures and cross-border networks, thereby easing the burden on Nigerian security agencies. Yet what remains is arguably the greater challenge: internal conflicts, banditry, communal violence and governance failures that continue to claim lives almost daily.

Encouragingly, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has in recent days demonstrated renewed resolve through meetings with security chiefs and fresh directives aimed at tackling insecurity. Such determination is welcome, but Nigerians have heard similar assurances before. What matters now are measurable improvements in the safety of communities across the country.

The Federal Government must move beyond reactive military deployments and adopt a comprehensive security strategy that addresses the roots of violence. Intelligence gathering, effective policing, swift justice, economic opportunities, border management and community engagement must all become central pillars of national security.

State governments, too, cannot continue to behave as helpless spectators. Although constitutional arrangements limit their operational control over security agencies, governors remain the chief security officers of their states in practical terms. They must invest more in intelligence, local conflict resolution, rural infrastructure, youth employment and early-warning systems instead of waiting endlessly for Abuja.

Above all, Nigeria’s security challenges must no longer be viewed through political, ethnic, regional or religious lenses. Every community that loses lives to violence suffers the same tragedy regardless of the identity of the victims. Criminality must be treated as criminality. Terrorism must be confronted as terrorism. Banditry must be fought as organised crime. None should be excused, politicised or exaggerated to serve sectional interests.

The lesson from the American mission is unmistakable. Foreign partners may provide intelligence, equipment, training and occasional operational support where their interests align with ours. They may help dismantle international terrorist networks. But they will neither rebuild our institutions nor heal our fractured communities. They will not end kidnapping, resolve communal disputes or restore public confidence in governance. Those responsibilities belong to Nigerians alone.

America has come and gone. What remains is the unfinished business of securing Nigeria. Unless governments at every level demonstrate the political will to confront insecurity without prejudice or sentiment, the country will continue to bleed from within. No foreign army will fix what only Nigerian leadership can resolve.

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