Nigeria’s security challenges are immense. According to one estimate, the country recorded nearly 12,000 conflict-related deaths in 2025—a toll exceeding the peak fatalities recorded during the height of the Boko Haram insurgency in 2014 (11,346 deaths) and more than those suffered in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen combined in 2025. An Afrobarometer survey published in August 2025 found that two out of three Nigerians say that the country is no safer today than it was five years ago. Forms of insecurity, particularly kidnapping for ransom, are pervasive across the country, but armed violence is unfolding in four main theaters. In the northeast, two jihadi groups, Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province, are 16 years into an insurgency that has gained momentum in recent months despite counterinsurgent operations by the Nigerian military.…