By Mark A. Kellner
Christian advocacy groups across the United States hailed President Donald Trump’s Oct. 31 decision to again designate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) due to rising attacks on Christians in Africa’s most populous nation.
The action restores Nigeria to the U.S. government’s highest tier for religious-freedom offenders, a status the country last held in late 2020. Trump originally authorized the listing that year following years of violent persecution by Islamist terrorist groups such as Boko Haram and the ISIS–West Africa.
“This is very good to see,” wrote Tony Perkins, former chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), on social media.
“During my time as chairman of @USCIRF under President Trump’s first administration, we were able to obtain this CPC designation on Nigeria because of its atrocious record of tolerating religious persecution. The incoming Biden administration immediately reversed the decision. Elections have life and death consequences.”Perkins heads the Washington-based Family Research Council but remains active in global religious freedom issues.
Commission Chair Vicky Hartzler said: “We applaud @POTUS for making Nigeria a CPC due to its egregious violations of [freedom of religion or belief]. The Trump administration can now use the various presidential actions outlined in [the International Religious Freedom Act] to incentivize Nigeria to protect its citizens and hold perpetrators accountable.”
A CPC designation authorizes the U.S. government to impose or threaten sanctions, suspend security cooperation, or restrict economic assistance until the offending nation improves its record. For Nigeria, a leading oil exporter and Africa’s largest economy, the listing could deter investment and complicate bilateral defense programs aimed at countering terrorism in the Sahel region.
Christian organizations that had urged the White House to act—including Voice of the Martyrs and International Christian Concern (ICC)—expressed gratitude while warning that the persecution crisis remains acute. One Nigerian civil liberties group estimates more than 50,000 Christians have been killed since 2009.
“I’m thankful that the U.S. government will now acknowledge the great suffering of our Christian brothers and sisters in northern Nigeria,” said Todd Nettleton, vice president of message for Voice of the Martyrs.
“Hopefully this designation will lead to more protection for Christians in Nigeria. While the south part of Africa’s most prosperous nation is usually safe for believers in Jesus, the north part is a much different story. Our staff and contacts regularly tell us of the severe persecution of those who follow Christ. Pastors and church leaders are especially targeted.”
According to ICC, which coordinated a multi-organization letter earlier in October urging Trump to reinstate the CPC status, the announcement marks “a significant step toward mobilizing the global community to confront the atrocities that have devastated so many families and communities in Nigeria.”
The letter cited massacres of Christian villagers in Plateau and Benue States and the frequent kidnapping of priests and seminarians as proof of “egregious, systematic, and ongoing” abuses by both extremist groups and local officials.
Frontline relief organizations said the new designation validates what they have long witnessed.
Judd Saul, executive director of Equipping the Persecuted, described worsening conditions and a grim outlook for Christian communities in central and northern states.
“We see attacks increasing on the ground,” Saul told The Epoch Times in a telephone interview. “We see more mobilization of the Fulani ethnic militia into areas they were never around before, and we believe that the attacks are going to get exponentially worse, especially leading up to Christmas.”
He said that terrorists often strike “on Christian holidays … when they like to go crazy.”
Saul said that entire communities on the outskirts of Kaduna, Jos in Plateau State, and Makurdi in Benue State are being “picked off” by roaming militias. He estimated that at least 100,000 Christians in those regions face immediate danger.
“For the last 10 years, you’ve seen a drastic increase in attacks,” he said, citing “political cover” provided during three consecutive Muslim presidencies, including that of former leader Muhammadu Buhari, himself of Fulani background. The Fulani are a mostly Muslim ethnic group.
He called for Washington to impose sanctions and financial leverage on Nigerian leaders who tolerate or ignore atrocities. “We can start sanctioning politicians, terror leaders, and start sanctioning the country of Nigeria,” he said. “We squeeze them until they behave themselves.”
Equipping the Persecuted operates with a staff of about 150 Nigerians across the country’s Middle Belt region, delivering food, medicine, and emergency supplies to survivors.
“We can’t provide arms,“ Saul said, ”but we can provide training, radios, and locally sourced bulletproof vests to help teach them to defend themselves and their villages.”
President Joe Biden removed Nigeria from the CPC list on Nov. 17, 2021, citing what his State Department described as “steps by Nigerian authorities and civil-society leaders to foster interfaith dialogue and reconciliation.”
The delisting drew bipartisan criticism from human-rights monitors and faith organizations that said violence against Christians had worsened.
