The U.S. government has listed Nigeria among countries with cases of child soldiers recruited by Boko Haram and ISIS-West Africa, warning of aid restrictions to Nigeria as a sanction.
In its 2026 Trafficking in Persons report on Nigeria, the U.S. Department of State highlighted a disturbing trend of children, as young as 12 years old, being recruited and deployed for several nefarious activities, including spying and suicide bombing, by terrorist groups.
“Boko Haram and ISIS-West Africa continue recruiting, abducting, and using—including through force, fraud, and coercion—child soldiers as young as 12 years old as cooks, domestic workers, spies, porters, messengers, bodyguards or guards at checkpoints, “morality police,” armed combatants, and suicide bombers in attacks in Nigeria,” the report stated.
The report also listed Cameroon, Chad, and Niger among West African countries with cases of child soldiers, adding that “these children are subjected to physical and sexual abuse and forced drug use”.
The report noted, “These non-state armed groups continue to abduct women and girls in the northern regions of Nigeria, many of whom they exploit in forced labour, including in domestic servitude, and in sexual slavery.
“Boko Haram has kidnapped and subjected thousands of women and girls into forced marriage, including for the purposes of sexual slavery and forced labour; Boko Haram punishes girls, including for refusing to marry, by forcing them to be suicide bombers.”
The U.S., in its Child Soldiers Prevention Act (CSPA) section of the 2026 TIP Report, threatened to restrict aid to governments of countries with cases of child soldiers.
“Governments identified on the list are subject to restrictions, in the following fiscal year, on certain security assistance and commercial licensing of military equipment. The CSPA prohibits assistance to governments that are identified in the list under the following authorities: International Military Education and Training, Foreign Military Financing, Excess Defence Articles, and Peacekeeping Operations, with exceptions for some programs undertaken pursuant to the Peacekeeping Operations authority,” the CSPA report stated.
The CSPA also prohibits issuing licences for direct commercial sales of military equipment to such governments.
The restrictions, beginning October 1, 2026, will apply to the listed countries unless a presidential waiver, applicable exception, or reinstatement of assistance under the CSPA terms applies.
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