The United States has stepped up intelligence-gathering flights over large swathes of Nigeria since late November, underscoring closer security cooperation between the two countries.
Flight-tracking data and U.S. officials indicate the surveillance missions intensified after President Donald Trump warned of possible intervention over attacks on Christian communities.
The operations come amid rising concern in Washington over militant violence and religious killings, an interpretation Nigerian authorities reject as an oversimplification of a complex security crisis.
According to December tracking records, the contractor-operated aircraft typically departs from Ghana, conducts wide-ranging flights over Nigeria, and returns to Accra.
The missions are flown by Tenax Aerospace, a Mississippi-based company that provides special mission aircraft and works closely with the U.S. military.
Analysts say Accra has emerged as a key hub for U.S. intelligence operations in West Africa since Niger expelled American forces last year.
U.S. officials say the flights are helping to restore surveillance capacity in the region while tracking militant groups such as Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).
They add that the aircraft may also support efforts to locate a U.S. pilot kidnapped earlier this year in neighbouring Niger.
Nigeria has agreed to receive U.S. intelligence support, although it continues to reject claims that the violence disproportionately targets Christians rather than civilians across religious lines.
A Nigerian security source said the arrangement was finalised during high-level talks between Nigerian and U.S. defence officials in November.
The surveillance flights have taken place almost daily, using a Gulfstream V jet commonly adapted for intelligence and reconnaissance missions.
President Bola Tinubu has recently declared a security emergency amid mass killings, widespread kidnappings and the abduction of hundreds of schoolchildren.
Washington has since increased diplomatic pressure, placing Nigeria on religious freedom watchlists and imposing limited travel restrictions.
U.S. officials say cooperation with Nigeria will continue, even as Trump has ordered preparations for rapid military action should the violence persist unchecked.
