A senior U.S. official, Jonathan Burke, Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, is set to visit Nigeria this Monday for a two-day mission to strengthen counterterrorism cooperation, the U.S. Embassy announced.
Burke will meet with Nigerian government authorities and private-sector stakeholders to discuss risks to the financial sector and bolster safeguards against terrorist financing.
The visit is part of the Trump administration’s broader efforts to reduce violence against Christians and other vulnerable groups in Nigeria.
The trip follows a January visit by a U.S. delegation led by Under Secretary of State Allison Hooker, which launched a bilateral joint working group on counterterrorism cooperation and responses to attacks targeting Nigerian Christians.
Recent U.S.-Nigeria security initiatives include designating Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern on religious freedom, conducting U.S. military strikes against suspected militants in the northwest, and deploying about 100 U.S. troops to support Nigerian forces in counterterrorism training and intelligence sharing.
The two countries have a long-standing collaboration on counterterrorism and financial intelligence, including Nigeria’s participation in regional anti-money laundering frameworks aimed at disrupting extremist funding networks.
