Nigeria CSPA Country Profile • Stimson Center

CSPA Implementation Tracker

Nigeria

Years Listed

Each shaded box corresponds to a year the country appeared on the CSPA list and what types of waivers it received, if any.

Nigeria first appeared on the CSPA list between 2015 and 2018, was removed in 2019, then relisted in 2020 and 2021. The U.S. president fully waived CSPA prohibitions against the provision of U.S. arms sales and military assistance to Nigeria for each of the six years it was listed, resulting in the provision of more than $58.6 million in arms sales and military assistance between FY2016 and FY2022. Specifically, the president waived more than $13.8 million in Direct Commercial Sales, $1.1 million in Foreign Military Financing, more than $6.3 million in International Military Education and Training, and more than $37.4 million in Section 1206 or Section 333 assistance. The president has never denied Nigeria any arms sales or military assistance due to CSPA prohibitions.

Nigeria first appeared on the CSPA list in 2015 following its support for and coordination with the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF), a local self-defense force formed in 2013 to protect communities against attacks by Boko Haram, which used and recruited child soldiers. Nigeria’s Borno State government provided financial and in-kind support to the CJTF, while Nigeria’s armed forces worked with the group to coordinate military operations against Boko Haram.¹ The CJTF has reportedly recruited children as young as twelve to conduct patrols, search for and arrest insurgents, guard camps for internally displaced people, and collect intelligence, at times in collaboration with Nigerian armed forces.² At its height, an estimated 3,737 children were affiliated with the group.³

The Nigerian armed forces themselves have also reportedly recruited and used children in support roles – including to fetch water or firewood, deliver messages, and clean – and there have been reports of children interrogated and used as collaborators to identify members of Boko Haram.⁴ Following the signing of a UN Action Plan in 2017, there were no verified reports of child soldier use or recruitment by the Nigerian government or the CJTF between April 2018 and March 2019, resulting in the country’s exclusion from the 2019 CSPA list.⁵

Nigeria reappeared on the CSPA list in 2020 and 2021 following verified reports that the CJTF used two children, ages 15 and 17, to assist at a check point at a camp for internally displaced persons in Borno State. Following the notification of the violation, the CJTF demobilized the two children and referred them to care. Senior representatives from the Ministry of Justice and Armed Forces of Nigeria, as well as the CJTF’s area commander, visited the camp reinforce the zero-tolerance policy for use of child soldiers, and authorities further organized a workshop with local CJTF unit commanders.⁶ Nigeria was subsequently excluded from the 2022 CSPA list.

Nigeria has suffered from a lack of criminal accountability for child soldier recruitment and use, both among military officials and CJTF members. Between April 2020 and March 2023, the federal and state governments did not report investigating or prosecuting CJTF members for allegations of child soldier recruitment or use.⁷ The Federal Ministry of Defense continued to deny that its soldiers recruited children, which impeded investigations of alleged violations from previous years.⁸ However, the federal and state governments have taken steps to prevent child soldiering in the country, including by supporting the implementation of the UN Action Plan signed by the CJTF in 2017.⁹ Between the signing of the Action Plan and March 2021, international observers verified the release of an estimated 2,000 children from the CJTF, and the UN de-listed Nigeria in 2021 citing compliance with the Plan.¹⁰

Since 2021, U.S. presidents have been required to include justifications for CSPA waivers that were issued during the previous year in the annual Trafficking in Persons Report. Nigeria’s 2020 waiver justification maintained that “[t]he U.S. government’s current security assistance goals with Nigeria are to: 1) increase the professionalism of the Nigerian armed forces, including respect for human rights and mitigating civilian harm; 2) reduce the threats violent extremist organizations pose to Nigeria and the Lake Chad region; and 3) increase security in the Gulf of Guinea. […] A full waiver the application of the prohibition in section 404(a) of the CSPA with respect to Nigeria allows the U.S. government to continue to provide security assistance in delivery of the above lines of efforts.”¹¹ Similar language was included in Nigeria’s 2021 waiver justification.¹²

For more information, see the U.S. State Department’s 2021, 2022, and 2024 Trafficking in Persons Reports and 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. More information on the situation in Nigeria can also be found in the UN Secretary-General’s 2024 annual report on Children and Armed Conflict and 2022 country-specific report on Nigeria.

Total Waived and Prohibited

Since the CSPA took effect.

Explore the Data

Country- and program-level data on the number and type of national interest waivers granted, as well as the amount of arms sales and military assistance waived.

Amounts

Waivers

Amounts

Waivers