US threatens to cut military aid to Nigeria over alleged recruitment of child soldiers

Tuesday, October 13, 2026 - The United States of America has placed Nigeria on its Child Soldiers Prevention Act blacklist, saying the designation could lead to cuts in military training, weapons sales, foreign military financing, and defence cooperation from October 1, 2026, unless President Donald Trump issues a waiver.

This came after the State Department’s 2026 Trafficking in Persons Report cited the continued recruitment and use of children by Boko Haram and ISIS-West Africa on Nigerian soil.

The report, published on October 11 and obtained by The PUNCH on Monday, covers April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026 and is the latest available assessment of Nigeria’s anti-trafficking performance by the US State Department.

It placed Nigeria on a list of 14 nations, including Russia, Iran, South Sudan, and Somalia, that are accused of recruiting or using child soldiers.

The report also revealed that the country’s anti-trafficking performance failed to meet minimum standards for the 15th consecutive year.

“Governments identified on the list are subject to restrictions, in the following fiscal year, on certain security assistance and commercial licensing of military equipment.

“The CSPA prohibits assistance to governments that are identified in the list under the following authorities: International Military Education and Training, Foreign Military Financing, Excess Defence Articles, and Peacekeeping Operations, with exceptions for some programs undertaken pursuant to the Peacekeeping Operations authority.

“The CSPA also prohibits the issuance of licenses for direct commercial sales of military equipment to such governments. Beginning October 1, 2026, and effective throughout Fiscal Year 2026, these restrictions will apply to the listed countries, absent a presidential waiver, applicable exception, or reinstatement of assistance pursuant to the terms of the CSPA,” the report read.

It said the determination to include a government in the CSPA list is “informed by a range of sources, including first-hand observation by U.S. government personnel and research and credible reporting from various UN entities, international organisations, local and international NGOs, and international and domestic media outlets.”

The blacklisting comes amid an ongoing US-Nigeria security partnership after the Trump administration deployed Navy SEAL Team 6 alongside Nigerian forces for joint counterterrorism operations in the northeast and formalised the bilateral 2026 Defence Cooperation Roadmap.

According to the report, not a single government official was prosecuted for state complicity in trafficking despite acknowledged corruption, even as the number of trafficking victims who received government assistance collapsed from 2,058 the previous year to just 675.

The CSPA listing, if not waived by a sitting US president, could restrict International Military Education and Training, Foreign Military Financing, Excess Defence Articles, peacekeeping assistance, and licences for direct commercial sales of military equipment to Nigeria, the document said.

It stated, “The government did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government employees allegedly complicit in trafficking crimes or provide details or other actions taken against complicit officials from previous years,” adding that “corruption and official complicity in trafficking crimes remained significant concerns.”

The report further noted that “observers reported some law enforcement, military, and other government officials reportedly committed trafficking crimes, accepted bribes to facilitate trafficking, or obstructed justice by interfering with investigations.”

On law enforcement, it said Nigerian authorities investigated 1,341 trafficking cases, comprising 589 sex trafficking cases, 301 forced labour cases, and 451 unspecified cases, involving 1,367 suspects. Of those, 94 were prosecuted and 97 traffickers convicted.

The US acknowledged that “the majority of those convicted received prison sentences of at least one year” and that “officials increased collaboration with foreign governments on international trafficking investigations,” resulting in operations across West Africa and Southeast Asia in partnership with INTERPOL.

It said although 2,004 people were identified as trafficking victims, comprising 893 sex trafficking and 1,111 forced labour, only 675 received government-supported assistance during the year, against 2,058 the prior period.

The report criticised shelter conditions at the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, noting that NAPTIP’s closed-shelter policy meant “residents were not allowed freedom of movement, including children’s access to school,” and that “access to some protection services was tied to victims’ willingness to cooperate with law enforcement proceedings.”

It noted that adult victims who declined shelter were not provided alternative services, and that “only one dedicated NGO shelter was available for adult male trafficking survivors.”

On the Child Soldiers Prevention Act listing, the report identified Boko Haram and ISIS-West Africa as the entities responsible for child recruitment.

“Boko Haram and ISIS-West Africa continue recruiting, abducting, and using—including through force, fraud, and coercion—child soldiers as young as 12 years old as cooks, domestic workers, spies, porters, messengers, bodyguards or guards at checkpoints, “morality police,” armed combatants, and suicide bombers in attacks in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, and Niger; these children are subjected to physical and sexual abuse and forced drug use.

“These non-state armed groups continue to abduct women and girls in the northern regions of Nigeria, many of whom they exploit in forced labour, including in domestic servitude, and in sexual slavery. Boko Haram has kidnapped and subjected thousands of women and girls to forced marriage, including for sexual slavery and forced labour; Boko Haram punishes girls, including for refusing to marry, by forcing them to be suicide bombers.

“In many cases, the government coerces victims of forced marriage, including trafficking victims, to return to their Boko Haram husbands in Borno State demobilisation centres. Criminal gangs in the south recruit and use children in forced criminality, including kidnappings and robberies, and exploit them in sex trafficking. Criminal gangs in the northwest also exploit victims in forced labour in agriculture and mining,” the report stated.

It said the CSPA listing, under US law, could restrict International Military Education and Training, Foreign Military Financing, Excess Defence Articles, peacekeeping assistance, and licences for direct commercial sales of military equipment, restrictions effective from October 1, subject to a presidential waiver.

On labour trafficking, the report said the government “did not prohibit worker-paid recruitment fees…did not report holding labour recruiters liable civilly and criminally for fraudulent recruitment,” and “did not provide specialised training on child labour and human trafficking to labour inspectors.”

It added that “the government did not provide anti-trafficking training to its diplomatic personnel.”

The report also cited international criminal networks using Nigeria as an arena, saying “highly organised foreign criminal syndicates fraudulently recruit foreigners to Nigeria with promises of employment, confine them in leased properties and compel them to participate in organised online scams.”

The TIP report also alleged that “Russian authorities fraudulently recruit and use Nigerians to fight in the Russia-Ukraine war” and that Nigeria’s Ministry of Education “helped promote” Russia’s Alabuga Start programme “despite warning signs.”

It raised concern that “North Korean nationals working in Nigeria may be operating under exploitative conditions displaying indicators of forced labour.”

On baby factories, which are criminal enterprises disguised as orphanages, maternity homes, or religious centres where women are held against their will, raped, and forced to deliver children who are subsequently sold, the report described the operations as a documented feature of Nigeria’s trafficking landscape, concentrated predominantly in the south.

Despite the concerns, the US government acknowledged Nigeria’s increased allocations, including victim service funding, which rose from N128m to N233m, while prevention spending jumped from N58.8m to N245m.

It also noted that the government coordinated the repatriation of 428 Nigerians exploited abroad, secured restitution for 14 victims as part of criminal sentences, and maintained anti-trafficking task forces in 23 states.

Nigeria, a source, transit, and destination country for trafficking, last attained the top Tier 1 ranking in 2011.

Its status has fluctuated between Tier 1, Tier 2, and the lower Tier 2 Watch List over the annual report’s 25-year history.

Countries in the 2026 CSPA listing include Afghanistan, Myanmar, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Iran, Russia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Venezuela, Yemen, and two others in a group the US considers the most consequential offenders in child soldier recruitment globally.

When contacted for comments, NAPTIP’s Head of Press and Public Relations, Vincent Adekoye, said the agency would make its response to the report public.

Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, did not respond to calls to his mobile line and a text message seeking the Presidency’s comments.