Islamist violent extremists (VE) and violent extremist organizations (VEO) require a broad range of material, social, and financial support to organize, train, conduct operations, and sustain their ideologies and terrorist/insurgent endeavors. There are several geographic regions and states in the world that are distinctly conducive to supporting Islamist VEs and VEOs, however only a portion of these have direct strategic significance to U.S. interests and national security. The West African country of Nigeria represents one of these strategic states and concurrently exists as an international and regional VE and VEO resource base and safe haven. Northern Nigeria is particularly significant to Islamist VEO financing due to the socio-political and socio-economic conditions and widespread corruption and criminality. The purpose of this research is to explore the dynamic of threat financing supporting Islamist violent extremists and extremist organizations in northern Nigeria, offer insight into existing and potential conditions that are conducive to threat financing, and highlight existing information gaps particularly regarding Nigerian based VEOs that may serve as accelerators for international foreign terrorist organizations (FTO) and/or their resource networks. This research will be presented using an interpretive case study of northern Nigeria, highlighting the necessity of an U.S. interagency (IA) approach utilizing an irregular warfare (IW) operating concept, characterized by direct and indirect interventions, engagements, and a focus on relevant populations and partner state capacity building. The research concludes with recommended approaches for U.S. IA elements, USAFRICOM, and USSOCOM to initiate, operationalize, and sustain long-term counter threat finance (CTF) efforts and engagement with Nigeria.

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