The United States Embassy in Abuja authorised the voluntary departure of non-emergency staff and family members on April 8, 2026, citing worsening security conditions across Nigeria.
The decision was accompanied by an updated State Department travel advisory that elevated twenty-three specific states to Do Not Travel status, the highest level of warning issued by the US government. The listed states include northern and central regions such as Borno, Yobe, Kaduna, and Zamfara where terrorism, banditry, and kidnapping remain endemic, as well as southeastern and south-south states including Imo, Anambra, Delta, and Rivers where crime, armed militancy, and civil unrest have escalated.
Notably absent from the list are states in Nigeria’s southwest, an omission that has fueled online discussion about the relative security stability of that region compared to the persistent and worsening threats elsewhere in the country.
The authorisation of voluntary departure is a significant step that stops short of ordering a full evacuation but signals that the US government views the security environment in Abuja, the nation’s capital, as deteriorating to the point where the presence of non-essential personnel and their families is no longer justified.
Voluntary departure allows staff to leave without penalty and is typically used when conditions are unstable but not yet critical enough to mandate evacuation. The move places Nigeria in a category of countries where the US diplomatic presence is being scaled back due to security rather than political or administrative reasons, a category that includes active conflict zones and countries under severe instability.
The Do Not Travel designation for twenty-three states is not new in principle.
The US has maintained warnings about travel to certain parts of Nigeria for years, particularly the northeast where Boko Haram and ISWAP continue to operate and the northwest where banditry and kidnapping for ransom have become systematic and widespread. What is significant about the updated advisory is the number of states now included and the explicit acknowledgment that insecurity is not confined to the far north or remote rural areas but has spread to southeastern and south-south states that are economically important and more densely populated.
The inclusion of Imo, Anambra, Delta, and Rivers on the list reflects the escalation of violence linked to separatist agitation, cult activity, oil theft, and organised crime in the southeast and Niger Delta.
These states have experienced attacks on police stations, military checkpoints, government buildings, and civilians, often carried out by groups whose motivations range from political grievance to criminal enterprise. The US designation acknowledges that the threat environment in these areas is now comparable to that in the conflict zones of the north, a reality that Nigerian authorities have been reluctant to fully admit.
The absence of southwest states from the Do Not Travel list has not gone unnoticed. Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ondo, and Ekiti are not on the list, a distinction that users online have attributed to relatively stronger local security efforts, better-funded state police initiatives, and the presence of local vigilante and community security networks that have proven more effective at deterring or responding to criminal activity than the federal security apparatus. Whether that assessment is accurate or whether the southwest simply has not yet experienced the level of violence that would trigger a US advisory is debatable, but the perception that the region is safer is widespread and has political implications….See More
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