Nigeria and the Sahel: A growing security divide

What the report says

Al Jazeera reports that tensions between Nigeria and the Sahelian military governments of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger are making it harder to respond to armed groups that operate across porous borders. The dispute has sharpened in recent months, with a December 2025 incident in which Burkina Faso briefly detained 11 Nigerian Air Force personnel after a C-130 made an emergency landing there, followed by diplomatic talks that secured their release.

The article says the broader split reflects the creation of the Alliance of Sahel States in 2023 and the three countries’ later withdrawal from ECOWAS, which took effect in January 2025. It also notes that Niger left the Multinational Joint Task Force in March 2025, reducing coordination against Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province in the Lake Chad Basin. Analysts quoted by Al Jazeera said these moves have weakened cross-border counterterrorism efforts and may give armed groups more room to move personnel, money and weapons.

The story places the diplomatic friction against a wider security backdrop in which Nigeria and its neighbours face overlapping threats, including ISWAP activity in Niger and attacks in Mali involving JNIM and the Azawad Liberation Front. The article says trade and migration are also affected, since Nigeria is a major market for Sahelian goods and a key transit point for regional movement.

Overall, the piece argues that political mistrust is diverging from the reality of a shared transnational threat, creating a gap between security systems that still need to cooperate.