Nigeria and Turkey concluded a military cooperation agreement to strengthen defense ties through training, joint production and broader defense industry collaboration, Jeune Afrique reported on April 19. The agreement includes plans to train around 200 Nigerian special forces personnel in Turkey as Abuja seeks to address its worsening insurgency and security challenges.

Since November 2025, the United States has also increased military cooperation with Abuja; Washington has deployed 100 of the planned 200 troops to engage in intelligence sharing and train local forces. This comes as the jihadist insurgency, primarily driven by the Islamic State Sahel Province and Jama'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihad (JAS, also known as Boko Haram) in the northeast, continues to worsen, alongside activity by other affiliates and smaller armed groups in north-central and northwestern Nigeria.