US delivers military equipment to Nigeria

The United States has delivered some military equipment it sold to Nigeria as part of the two countries’ bilateral counterterrorism collaboration.

The delivery, made over the weekend using the United States Air Force C-17 aircraft, was disclosed in an X post by US Africa Command (AFRICOM) on Thursday.

The post did not detail the specific equipment delivered and its cost.

“The equipment is part of a foreign military sales agreement that furthers the US-Nigerian partnership and will aid in Nigeria’s efforts to counter terrorism in the region,” the post read.

It is not immediately clear if the sale was part of a Foreign Military Sale (FMS) worth $346 million and approved by the US State Department in August 2025. 

The FMS included munitions, precision bombs, precision rockets and other weapons. According to the US, the equipment would help Nigeria in its fight against terrorism and illicit arms trafficking, among others.

The US also approved the sale of several weapons to Nigeria between 2017 and 2022, including the 12 A-29 Super Tucano aircraft worth about $593 million and 12 AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters estimated to cost $997 million.

While some of the equipment have been delivered, others have not been delivered, according to many reports reviewed by this newspaper.

The latest delivery announced by AFRICOM follows months of expanded security cooperation between Nigeria and the United States, including joint counterterrorism operations, intelligence sharing and military training. The cooperation intensified after diplomatic tensions between Washington and Abuja over President Donald Trump’s claim that Christians were being disproportionately targeted by terrorist groups in Nigeria.

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While President Trump accused the Nigerian government of failing to adequately protect Christian communities and warned that the United States would take action against terrorist groups if the situation persisted, Nigerian authorities rejected the characterisation, insisting that insurgents and armed groups target Nigerians regardless of their religion or ethnicity.

The two countries subsequently reached a bilateral agreement under which the United States deployed about 200 military personnel to Nigeria to provide training, intelligence and operational support following coordinated US-Nigeria strikes against Islamic State targets in the country’s North-east.