Trump cut aid. Now he wonders why Nigeria’s so violent

Months after USAID’s progress toward peace ended, the president is threatening to go in with ‘guns a-blazing’

- DANIEL MORRIS GUEST CONTRIBUTOR

ON TRUTH Social earlier this month, President Trump ordered Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to “prepare for possible action” to protect Christians in Nigeria. (Hegseth’s social-mediated response: “Yes sir”).

The order appears to have been prompted at least in part by a statement from Sen. Ted Cruz last month accusing the Nigerian government of “ignoring and even facilitating the mass murder of Christians by Islamist jihadists.”

To a former career Foreign Service Officer with USAID, including more than three years based in Nigeria, the most interesting part of the order was the president’s threat to “stop all aid and assistance” to Nigeria.

As I sat at my desk in northern Virginia, having just filed another unemployment insurance claim after being illegally fired in July, I wondered: What aid?

If the president meant military funding, it would seem counterintuitive to cut off the money explicitly designated to fight terrorism in Nigeria. I was more certain it was not the aid I used to administer, since soon after Trump took office in January he arrogated to himself congressional powers and let Elon Musk and others at the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency cut it off.

One program among the more than 5,000 that were effectively terminated by DOGE helped Nigerians to make modest but meaningful progress against conflict and extremism in northern Nigeria. Designated as Community Initiatives to Promote Peace, the program's initial phases ran until 2024. It was ultimately eliminated before its expansion began in 2025. The curriculum trained respected community elders — usually local religious or tribal leaders — in conflict resolution and facilitated dialogue sessions among groups in conflict, such as Christian farmers and Muslim herders.