U.S. Approves $346 Million Arms Deal to Nigeria Despite Decades of Failure

At a time when northern Nigeria is being ripped apart by Islamic extremists, the U.S. State Department has greenlit a $346 million arms sale to the Nigerian military proving once again that Washington has learned nothing from the last two decades of failure.

Violence is at an all-time high. Islamist terror groups like Boko Haram and the Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) have effectively taken over large swaths of Nigeria’s north. More than 7,000 Christians have been slaughtered in just the first 220 days of 2025. In early August alone, 27 Muslims were murdered while praying inside a mosque.

Yet instead of pursuing real solutions, the Biden administration continues to funnel more weapons into a country where corruption, incompetence, and betrayal are baked into the system.

Let’s look at the track record:

• Between 2000 and 2021, the U.S. sent over $1.1 billion in military aid and arms sales to Nigeria.

• Since then, Boko Haram and ISWAP have grown stronger, not weaker ISWAP alone now commands an army of 20,000 fighters.

• The UN estimates that 350,000 people have died due to the conflict’s direct and indirect consequences.

• By 2020, more than 60,000 Nigerians were directly killed by these terror groups.

And yet, the U.S. State Department continues to approve deals that directly arm a military force riddled with corruption. In 2016, Nigerian military brass were caught selling weapons to Boko Haram yes, the very enemy they were supposedly fighting. One general even skimmed off $24 million to build a shopping mall in the capital. He was removed from command but never convicted.

How can American taxpayers trust a regime like this with nearly half a billion dollars in advanced weaponry?

To make matters worse, the Nigerian military’s actions often harm the very civilians they claim to protect. In May of this year, a Nigerian Air Force strike mistakenly killed a local self-defense group, further eroding trust among communities already under siege.

Even the State Department's own Human Rights Report acknowledged Nigerian airstrikes killing civilians a report published the same week it approved this new weapons deal. You can’t make this up.

Here’s the hard truth: the Nigerian military does not need more guns. What it needs is accountability, oversight, and a complete rethinking of how to confront insurgency in one of the world’s most fragile regions. Without those reforms, we’re just arming the chaos.

This isn’t a partisan issue it’s a reality check. Both Republican and Democrat administrations have tried to throw money and firepower at Nigeria’s problems. None of it has worked. Why? Because we keep ignoring the root issues: tribal conflicts, extremist ideologies, broken governance, and a culture of corruption that swallows U.S. aid the moment it lands.

So why does Biden’s State Department keep doubling down?

Maybe it’s a desire to appear “engaged” in Africa. Maybe it’s about boosting defense contractor profits. Or maybe it’s just laziness defaulting to weapons as a one-size-fits-all solution to every foreign crisis.

But here’s what we do know: if America continues down this path, the bloodshed will grow, the terrorists will thrive, and the Nigerian people Christians and Muslims alike will keep paying the price.

If U.S. leaders won’t change course, it’s up to us to demand better. These deals are done in our name, with our tax dollars. It’s time we stopped bankrolling failure.

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