Nigeria taking religious violence more seriously after US CPC listing – Officials

US State Department officials have said Nigeria is taking religious violence more seriously following its designation as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) by President Donald Trump, but warned that more concrete action is needed to protect vulnerable communities and bring perpetrators to justice. The officials made the assessment on Thursday during a congressional hearing on Nigeria’s response to attacks on vulnerable communities since the US placed the country on its CPC list.

President Trump redesignated Nigeria as a CPC over allegations of Christian persecution and genocide before the US military launched a missile strike against terrorist targets in Sokoto State on Christmas Day. Nigeria and the US have since entered into a military partnership targeting terrorists in the country’s northern region and established a joint working group to address Washington’s concerns over religious violence.

The hearing was convened by Chris Smith, Chairman of the US House Foreign Affairs Africa Subcommittee, to examine Nigeria’s response to attacks on vulnerable communities following the CPC designation. Speaking at the hearing, Frank Garcia, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, said the State Department had intensified engagements with Nigerian officials to address attacks against Christian communities and ensure accountability for perpetrators.

He, however, acknowledged that the violence had persisted, stressing that Washington expected measurable improvements in security deployments, early responses to warnings of impending attacks and prosecution of those responsible. “We are expecting results — protection for Christian communities in the Middle Belt through increased Nigerian security and law enforcement deployments, more timely and effective responses to early warnings of impending attacks, accountability for perpetrators through stronger courts and security services, and deeper military-to-military cooperation,” he said.

Garcia said the US was pursuing a coordinated approach to strengthening Nigeria’s security architecture through capacity building, expanded use of biometric data to identify perpetrators and financial action plans to disrupt terrorist financing networks. “Though Nigeria has reported progress, under Secretary Hooker made it clear in the joint working group second session that this pace is insufficient,” he added.

Also speaking, Riley Barnes, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labour, said the US had continued to urge the Nigerian government to repeal blasphemy laws or, at the minimum, stop enforcing them. Barnes said Trump’s redesignation of Nigeria as a CPC had prompted the country to take religious violence and related concerns more seriously.

“The government has reported leadership changes, strategically deployed military forces, and increased arrests and prosecutions,” he said. He added that the Nigerian government had agreed to provide more transparent reports on spending for displaced persons and develop a plan and timeline for their safe return to their ancestral communities. However, Barnes stressed that Washington’s primary objective remained an end to attacks and violence.

“But our chief goal remains an end to attacks and violence. The US has been clear that the measure of success will be simply fewer attacks and less violence, and importantly, demonstrable progress in holding the individuals who carry out attacks accountable. “Abuja carries the burden of proof, and there is still more work to be done,” he said. In her contribution, Oge Onubogu, Director and Senior Fellow of the African Programme at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, cautioned against framing Nigeria’s insecurity exclusively as religious persecution.

She said attacks across the country must be confronted honestly, warning that Christians should not be treated as the sole victims of violence. “The evidence does not support treating Christians as the sole victims of Nigeria’s violence or reducing the complex insecurity of the Middle Belt to a single explanation based on religion,” Onubogu said. She noted that Muslim communities had also suffered devastating attacks, adding that religious identity often intersected with ethnic, land and resource disputes, political competition, livelihoods, criminality, governance failures and longstanding local grievances.

Onubogu argued that the CPC designation should serve as a policy instrument rather than a substitute for a comprehensive response to Nigeria’s security challenges. Meanwhile, Smith opposed any move to lift Nigeria’s CPC designation, insisting that it should remain in place until Washington sees concrete evidence of progress by the Nigerian government.