The United States has conducted intelligence-gathering flights over large parts of Nigeria since late November, signalling intensified security cooperation between Washington and Abuja, according to flight tracking data and US officials cited by Reuters.
The report, published Monday, said the specific objectives of the surveillance missions could not be independently verified. However, the flights followed remarks by US President Donald Trump in November, in which he threatened possible military intervention in Nigeria over what he described as the government’s failure to stop violence against Christian communities.
The surveillance activity also comes months after a US pilot working for a missionary organisation was kidnapped in neighbouring Niger.
Flight tracking data for December showed that the contractor-operated aircraft routinely departed from Ghana, flew over Nigerian airspace, and returned to Accra. The operator was identified as Tenax Aerospace, a Mississippi-based company that provides special-mission aircraft and works closely with the US military. The company did not respond to requests for comment.
Liam Karr, Africa team lead at the Critical Threats Project of the American Enterprise Institute, who analysed the data, said the operation appeared to be run out of Accra, which he described as “a known hub for the US military’s logistics network in Africa.”
Karr said the flights indicated that Washington was rebuilding its intelligence capability in the region following Niger’s decision last year to expel US troops from a major desert air base and deepen security ties with Russia.
“In recent weeks, we’ve seen a resumption of intelligence and surveillance flights in Nigeria,” Karr told Reuters.
A former US official said the aircraft was among several assets relocated to Ghana by the Trump administration in November. The official said the missions included efforts to track the kidnapped US pilot and gather intelligence on militant groups operating in Nigeria, including Boko Haram and its splinter faction, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).
A serving US official confirmed the flights over Nigeria but declined to provide further details, citing diplomatic sensitivity. Another administration official said Washington was working with Nigeria to address “religious violence, anti-Christian attacks, and the destabilising spread of terrorism.”
All officials spoke on condition of anonymity.
In a statement, the Pentagon said the US had held “productive meetings” with Nigerian authorities following Trump’s comments, but declined to comment on intelligence activities.
Nigeria’s military spokesperson and Ghana’s deputy defence minister did not respond to requests for comment.
Nigerian authorities have repeatedly maintained that armed groups target both Muslims and Christians, arguing that US claims of Christian persecution oversimplify the country’s complex security challenges and ignore efforts to protect religious freedom.
A Nigerian security source told Reuters that during a November 20 meeting between National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu and US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, Washington agreed to deploy air assets to support intelligence gathering.
Flight data showed the Tenax Aerospace aircraft at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida on November 7. MacDill hosts the headquarters of the US Special Operations Command. The aircraft later flew to Ghana on November 24 and has since conducted near-daily flights over Nigeria.
The aircraft is a Gulfstream V, a long-range business jet often modified for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions.
The development comes amid worsening insecurity in Nigeria. President Bola Tinubu last month declared a security emergency and ordered mass recruitment into the armed forces and police following deadly attacks, kidnappings and the abduction of more than 300 schoolchildren in northern states.
