Building Lasting Peace and a Strategic Economic Partnership with Nigeria
November 25, 2025 | Al Gombis, Tibor Nagy, Rob Quiroz, Mahvash Siddiqui, Sterling Tilley, Piero TozziExecutive Summary
The Trump administration has a strategic opportunity to create a mutually responsible security and economic relationship while securing a lasting peace between Muslim and Christians in the most populous nation in Africa. A focused strategic framework that prioritizes safety and security offers economic partnerships that advance American competitiveness while building a critical security relationship that benefits U.S. national interests.
Encouraging Peace and Economic Growth
Establishing security within Nigeria, primarily the Middle Belt and the Northeast, is of primary concern. Without reducing the tensions and stabilizing these regions, Nigeria faces the threat of a 2nd civil war not seen since the late 1960’s when ethnic/religious divisions also were at the center of the divide.i
• Review and expand Status of Forces Agreement and audit practical application of Leahy Act so as to not unnecessarily hamper training of military units that could be productively deployed in counterterrorism operations. This will provide material support to the Nigerian military which will allow the Nigerian government to properly deal with security issues, particularly in the Middle Belt and the Northeast of Nigeria. (NOTE: The Northeast is home to extremist groups like Boko Haram that practice cleansing the region of Christians while the Middle Belt is the center of the farmer/herder conflict exacerbated by Fulani-backed militias and marauders that has metastasized into ethno-religious conflict.)
• Promote solution-based initiatives to minimize the farmer/herder conflict that has become a full blown Christian/Muslim and inter-ethnic conflict. Fulani herders (Muslim) are grazing their cattle on the lands of non-Fulani (mostly Christians) farmers as green pastures are rapidly diminishing due to development and deteriorating arable land. Establishing feedlots, leveraging U.S. innovation including precision agriculture and tissue engineering to grow plants/food in arid regions, and promoting the International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP) exchange programs, and encouraging village-level civil defense preparedness and interfaith dialogues will deter and reduce the conflict between farmers/herders (Christian/Muslims). (NOTE: In the past, there was an understanding that the herders would come to the farms after harvest for the animals to graze and fertilize the fields. This is no longer a tenable option, given the militancy of herder-affiliated groups.) v
• Establish public-private partnerships with U.S. agricultural, mining and technology companies with the Nigerian government and business while ensuring all inter-ethnic/religious groups have equitable access to generating wealth. This will provide necessary alternatives to Chinese influence in a major ally in Western Africa.
Background
For more than two decades, what started as a farmer vs. herder conflict devolved into ethno-religious conflict that has been raging in recent years and months, prompting President Trump in early November to threaten U.S. military action, which resulted in Secretary Rubio also declaring Nigeria to be a ‘Country of Particular Concern’. Nigeria rejected that threat and asked for additional cooperation to deescalate the Muslim vs. Christian conflict. Unfortunately, the violence continues to rage weeks later culminating into more than 300 being kidnapped from a Christian school in recent days, with some escaping. ii-vi
Sources:
i “A New Threat of Civil War in Nigeria”. WorldCrunch. January 9, 2012. https://worldcrunch.com/world-affairs/a-new-threat-of-civil-war-in-nigeria/
ii Maclean, Ruth and Alfa, Ismail “At Least 52 Kidnapped From Nigeria School in Second Mass Abduction This Week”. New York Times. November 21, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/21/world/africa/nigeria-school-abduction.html
iii “Trump remarks fuel US political storm over Nigerian schoolgirl abductions”. France 24. November 19, 2025. https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20251119-trump-nigerian-schoolgirl-abductions
iv Koch, Alexandra. “Trump threatens to halt all US aid, conduct 'vicious' military attack in Nigeria over Christian persecution”. Fox News.com. November 1, 2025. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-threatens-halt-all-us-aid-conduct-vicious-military-attack-nigeria-over-christian-persecution
v Nagy, Tibor. “Can U.S. forces protect Nigeria’s Christians?” November 11, 2025. https://www.lubbockonline.com/story/opinion/columns/2025/11/11/tibor-nagy-opinion-on-u-s-protecting-nigerias-christians-in-africa/87134912007/
vi Kingimi, Ahmed. “Fifty kidnapped Catholic school students in Nigeria escape”. Reuters. November 24, 2025. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/least-50-pupils-kidnapped-nigeria-catholic-school-escape-church-says-2025-11-23/
