DEPUTY Spokesperson for the House of Representatives, Philip Agbese, has said that the deployment of United States (U.S.) troops to Nigeria serves the nation’s strategic interest in tackling insurgency, banditry and other violent crimes.

But a renowned professor of International Relations, Alade Fawole, has warned that no amount of foreign intervention can resolve Nigeria’s domestic security challenges, urging Nigerians to prioritise home-grown solutions grounded in good governance, institutional reforms and national unity.

Agbese, who spoke to reporters in Abuja, yesterday, described the arrival of 100 American soldiers in Bauchi State as a crucial step to strengthen Nigeria’s security architecture and enhance the country’s ability to protect its citizens.

He explained that the U.S. personnel were in the country to train Nigerian forces and provide intelligence support against terrorist groups such as Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), as well as criminal gangs terrorising local communities.

He said the collaboration underscored Nigeria’s growing credibility on the global stage.

“For the first time in a long while, Nigeria is engaging a major global power like the U.S. from a position of strategic clarity and mutual respect,” Agbese stated.

Highlighting the Christmas Day precision airstrikes on terrorist enclaves in Sokoto State, approved by the President, Agbese said Nigeria has shown its determination to eliminate safe havens for terrorists.

FAWOLE delivered the message during the maiden guest lecture organised by the Faculty of Arts, University of Ilesa, Osun State, with the theme, ‘The Nigerian Security Quagmire and External Intervention: Implications, Lessons and the Way Forward’.

Speaking on foreign involvement in Nigeria’s security, Fawole described the December 2025 U.S. bombing of suspected terrorist bases in Sokoto, which reportedly caused collateral damage in Offa, Kwara State, as a violation of Nigeria’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.

“The U.S. intervention is transactional, not humanitarian. External involvement of this nature carries serious consequences for national security and unity,” he said.

Adding that Nigerians themselves contribute to conditions for foreign interference through propaganda and the “demarketing” of their own country.

He dismissed allegations of an anti-Christian genocide in Nigeria, describing them as opportunistic claims exploited by foreign actors to justify unilateral military actions.

Fawole called for confidence in the Nigerian Armed Forces to handle domestic insecurity and stressed that foreign intervention, no matter how well-intentioned, could not substitute proactive domestic governance.