Nigeria: Is the Trump-Tinubu Collaboration Working?

What the report says

A Council on Foreign Relations blog post published via AllAfrica on 18 August 2026 assesses the security cooperation between Nigeria’s government and the United States under Presidents Bola Tinubu and Donald Trump. The article argues that the partnership has helped produce a series of recent counterterrorism and rescue operations, including a major raid in Niger state that freed 308 hostages from a forest hideout in Kainji Lake National Park. It also points to other recent recoveries of abducted schoolchildren and teachers, as well as operations against suspected terrorist figures in several northern states.

The piece says Abuja has credited improved coordination among the military, police and intelligence services, alongside a larger defense budget, a security emergency declaration and recruitment plans. It adds that the U.S.-Nigeria cooperation was formalized through a joint working group and a defense cooperation roadmap, and that President Trump’s July letter to Tinubu praised the collaboration and shared counterterrorism goals.

At the same time, the author cautions that Nigeria’s wider security crisis is far from solved. The article cites continued killings and kidnappings, references rights group and survey findings on insecurity, and notes that violence remains widespread across the country. The main takeaway is that the partnership appears to be yielding operational gains, but the evidence in the piece suggests it is not yet enough to declare success or an end to Nigeria’s broader insecurity.