Amid Insecurity, Nigerians Forsake Nation’s Military, Embrace US Armed Forces To Gain Citizenship

As Nigeria continues to lament insufficient enrollment in the nation’s military forces, many of its citizens have been joining foreign armed forces in droves.

This is happening as Nigeria’s insecurity challenges worsen, especially in the Northern parts of the country.

Some zones in the country had lamented low enlistment in the Nigerian Army, alleging the force of favoritism.

Also recently, the acting Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Olufemi Oluyede, expressed concerns over the Nigerian Army’s recruitment of thousands of personnel annually without adequate support for providing accommodation for them.

Oluyede said the resources allocated to the Nigerian Army has been dwindling despite the increasing number of recruits.

He raised these concerns during a condolence visit by the Senate Committee on Army, led by Senator Abdulaziz Musa Yar’Adua, expressing fear that soldiers might not have a place to live if insecurity ended in the country.

Amid these challenges, Nigerians who are interested in joining military service have been embracing opportunities abroad.

Nigeria has been ranked fourth among countries whose citizens were granted U.S. citizenship through military naturalization between 2020 and 2024.

Within these years, the United States naturalised over 52,000 military service members across different countries.

Data obtained from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services disclosed that 3,270 Nigerian-born service members were granted U.S. citizenship, trailing only the Philippines (5,630), Jamaica (5,420), and Mexico with 3,670.

The data revealed that the number of Nigerian service members gaining U.S. citizenship has steadily increased over the past five years and that many of them made it through the military.

From 340 in 2020, the figure rose to 630 the following year, 680 in 2022, 690 in 2023 and 930 in 2024.

The Army accounted for 60 per cent of all military naturalisations during this period, followed by the Navy (20.4%), Air Force (10.6%), and Marine Corps (6.6%). Less than 1% of naturalised service members served in the Coast Guard.

The data revealed that half of the service members were between 22 and 30 years old when they naturalised, adding that 73 per cent of the naturalised service members were men.