Nigeria is important whether or not AQ is present, it is the largest nation in Africa, it is the HQs of ECOWAS which does a fair job of retaining some degree of regional stability in W. Africa, and it produces a fair amount of oil. The bottom line is if the situation in Nigeria escalates significantly it will most likely further destabilize the region due to direct spill over from its borders and indirectly by degrading ECOWAS.
All that said I don't know what the U.S. should do that it isn't doing already?
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