THE United States of America has placed Nigeria on its Child Soldiers Prevention Act (CSPA) blacklist, warning that the designation could lead to restrictions on military training, weapons sales, foreign military financing and defence cooperation from October 1, 2026, unless President Donald Trump issues a waiver.
News Point Nigeria reports that the development followed the US State Department’s 2026 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, which cited the continued recruitment and use of children by Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) on Nigerian soil.
Read also: Immigration Crackdown: US Releases Names, Photos Of 24 Nigerians Arrested Over Alleged Crimes
The report, published on October 11 and obtained by this newspaper on Monday, covers the period from April 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026, and represents the latest available assessment of Nigeria’s anti-trafficking performance by the US State Department.
It placed Nigeria on a list of 14 nations, including Russia, Iran, South Sudan and Somalia, accused of recruiting or using child soldiers.
The report also revealed that Nigeria’s anti-trafficking performance had failed to meet minimum standards for the 15th consecutive year.
According to the report, governments included on the CSPA list are subject to restrictions on certain security assistance and commercial licensing of military equipment in the following fiscal year.
“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 also prohibits the issuance of licenses for direct commercial sales of military equipment to such governments. Beginning October 1, 2026, and effective throughout Fiscal Year 2026, these restrictions will apply to the listed countries, absent a presidential waiver, applicable exception, or reinstatement of assistance pursuant to the terms of the CSPA,” the report read.
It explained that the decision to include a government on the CSPA list was “informed by a range of sources, including first-hand observation by U.S. government personnel and research and credible reporting from various UN entities, international organisations, local and international NGOs, and international and domestic media outlets.”
Nigeria’s inclusion on the blacklist comes amid an ongoing security partnership between Washington and Abuja, following the Trump administration’s deployment of Navy SEAL Team 6 alongside Nigerian forces for joint counterterrorism operations in the North-East and the formalisation of the bilateral 2026 Defence Cooperation Roadmap.
According to the report, no government official was prosecuted for state complicity in trafficking despite acknowledged corruption, while the number of trafficking victims who received government assistance dropped sharply from 2,058 in the previous reporting period to just 675.
The CSPA listing, if not waived by the US president, could restrict International Military Education and Training, Foreign Military Financing, Excess Defence Articles, peacekeeping assistance and licences for direct commercial sales of military equipment to Nigeria, the document stated.
The report specifically criticised the government’s failure to investigate and prosecute officials allegedly involved in trafficking-related crimes.
It stated, “The government did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government employees allegedly complicit in trafficking crimes or provide details or other actions taken against complicit officials from previous years,” adding that “corruption and official complicity in trafficking crimes remained significant concerns.”
The report further noted that “observers reported some law enforcement, military, and other government officials reportedly committed trafficking crimes, accepted bribes to facilitate trafficking, or obstructed justice by interfering with investigations.”
On law enforcement, the report said Nigerian authorities investigated 1,341 trafficking cases, comprising 589 sex trafficking cases, 301 forced labour cases and 451 unspecified cases, involving 1,367 suspects.
Of those cases, 94 were prosecuted, while 97 traffickers were convicted.
The US acknowledged that “the majority of those convicted received prison sentences of at least one year” and that “officials increased collaboration with foreign governments on international trafficking investigations.”
The report said the collaboration resulted in operations across West Africa and Southeast Asia in partnership with the International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL).
It also disclosed that although 2,004 people were identified as trafficking victims, comprising 893 victims of sex trafficking and 1,111 victims of forced labour, only 675 received government-supported assistance during the year, compared with 2,058 in the preceding reporting period.
The report criticised shelter conditions at the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), particularly its closed-shelter policy, which it said restricted victims’ freedom of movement.
According to the report, NAPTIP’s policy meant “residents were not allowed freedom of movement, including children’s access to school,” while “access to some protection services was tied to victims’ willingness to cooperate with law enforcement proceedings.”
It further noted that adult victims who declined shelter were not provided with alternative services and that “only one dedicated NGO shelter was available for adult male trafficking survivors.”
On Nigeria’s inclusion on the Child Soldiers Prevention Act blacklist, the report identified Boko Haram and ISWAP as the groups responsible for recruiting and using children in armed conflict.
It stated that the groups continued to recruit, abduct and use children as young as 12 years old in various roles, including as cooks, domestic workers, spies, porters, messengers, bodyguards, guards at checkpoints, “morality police,” armed combatants and suicide bombers.
The report said the children were used through force, fraud and coercion in attacks in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger and were subjected to physical and sexual abuse as well as forced drug use.
Read also: Nigeria Records World’s Biggest Rise In Poverty As 17.9 Million Fall Into Deprivation
It stated: “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, Cameroon, Chad, and Niger; these children are subjected to physical and sexual abuse and forced drug use.
“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 to forced marriage, including for sexual slavery and forced labour; Boko Haram punishes girls, including for refusing to marry, by forcing them to be suicide bombers.
“In many cases, the government coerces victims of forced marriage, including trafficking victims, to return to their Boko Haram husbands in Borno State demobilisation centres.
Criminal gangs in the south recruit and use children in forced criminality, including kidnappings and robberies, and exploit them in sex trafficking. Criminal gangs in the northwest also exploit victims in forced labour in agriculture and mining,” the report stated.
The report reiterated that Nigeria’s CSPA listing could restrict International Military Education and Training, Foreign Military Financing, Excess Defence Articles, peacekeeping assistance and licences for direct commercial sales of military equipment.
The restrictions are scheduled to take effect from October 1, subject to a presidential waiver or other applicable exceptions under US law.
On labour trafficking, the report criticised the government for failing to prohibit worker-paid recruitment fees and adequately hold labour recruiters accountable for fraudulent recruitment practices.
It stated that the government “did not prohibit worker-paid recruitment fees…did not report holding labour recruiters liable civilly and criminally for fraudulent recruitment,” and “did not provide specialised training on child labour and human trafficking to labour inspectors.”
The report added that “the government did not provide anti-trafficking training to its diplomatic personnel.”
It also raised concerns about international criminal networks using Nigeria as a base for trafficking and other exploitative activities, including organised online fraud.
The report said “highly organised foreign criminal syndicates fraudulently recruit foreigners to Nigeria with promises of employment, confine them in leased properties and compel them to participate in organised online scams.”
It further alleged that “Russian authorities fraudulently recruit and use Nigerians to fight in the Russia-Ukraine war” and that Nigeria’s Ministry of Education “helped promote” Russia’s Alabuga Start programme “despite warning signs.”
The report also raised concerns that “North Korean nationals working in Nigeria may be operating under exploitative conditions displaying indicators of forced labour.”
On baby factories, described as criminal enterprises disguised as orphanages, maternity homes or religious centres where women are held against their will, raped and forced to deliver children who are subsequently sold, the report said the operations remained a documented feature of Nigeria’s trafficking landscape.
It noted that the illegal operations were concentrated predominantly in southern Nigeria.
Despite the concerns raised, the US government acknowledged that Nigeria had increased allocations for anti-trafficking measures, including funding for victim services, which rose from N128 million to N233 million.
Spending on prevention also increased significantly, from N58.8 million to N245 million.
The report further noted that the Nigerian government coordinated the repatriation of 428 Nigerians exploited abroad, secured restitution for 14 victims as part of criminal sentences and maintained anti-trafficking task forces in 23 states.
Nigeria remains a source, transit and destination country for trafficking, according to the report.
The country last attained the top Tier 1 ranking in 2011, with its status fluctuating between Tier 1, Tier 2 and the lower Tier 2 Watch List over the annual report’s 25-year history.
Other countries included in the 2026 CSPA listing are Afghanistan, Myanmar, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Iran, Russia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Venezuela and Yemen, alongside other countries on the list.
The US considers the listed nations among the most consequential offenders globally in the recruitment and use of child soldiers.
The report’s findings place Nigeria under renewed international scrutiny over child recruitment by armed groups, alleged official complicity in trafficking, victim protection and the effectiveness of its anti-trafficking enforcement mechanisms.
When contacted for comments, NAPTIP’s Head of Press and Public Relations, Vincent Adekoye, said the agency would make its response to the report public.
However, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, did not respond to calls to his mobile telephone line or a text message seeking the Presidency’s comments on the report.
The publication also carried a reader-engagement notice urging audiences to make The PUNCH part of their everyday experience and add the newspaper to their preferred sources.
