RCCG Counters Neglect Claims Over Northern Insecurity

The Redeemed Christian Church of God has firmly rejected suggestions that it has ignored the plight of Christians and other Nigerians displaced by violence in the North, pointing instead to a record of practical relief work in Plateau State and wider humanitarian engagement across the region.

The pushback came after social media criticism of the church’s recent support for distressed Nigerians in South Africa. Critics asked why resources were directed abroad while communities facing attacks, displacement and hardship in Northern Nigeria continued to suffer. The Federal Government has confirmed that the RCCG donated $265,854 to fund one-way tickets for 500 stranded Nigerians fleeing renewed xenophobic and Afrophobic attacks in South Africa, part of a broader evacuation exercise that has so far returned more than 1,600 citizens.

Pastor Johnson Funso Odesola, Continental Overseer for Continent 3, described questions about the church’s support for persecuted Christians as legitimate but rejected any claim that the RCCG had done nothing. He recalled that in 2018, after attacks that displaced thousands, RCCG Region 8 delivered relief materials to internally displaced persons’ camps in Barkin Ladi, Plateau State, using three trucks and two buses loaded with food and other essentials. Church representatives also stood with affected communities and urged stronger government and security action to protect residents and enable safe returns.

Odesola acknowledged that the scale of the crisis across Northern Nigeria remains vast. Thousands remain displaced by repeated violence linked to banditry, farmer-herder clashes and insurgency. He said the church could and should do more to assist displaced families, widows, orphans, farmers, students and entire communities still living with the consequences of insecurity. At the same time, he urged critics to distinguish between calls for greater effort and assertions that nothing has been done, insisting the latter does not match the church’s humanitarian record.

The RCCG official also pressed for better documentation and transparency in future interventions, including clear records of beneficiaries, locations, resources deployed and results achieved. He stressed that assistance to Nigerians abroad should not be framed as competition with help for those at home. Humanitarian needs exist both inside and outside the country, he said, and the proper focus is reducing suffering through coordinated action involving government, churches, businesses, humanitarian organisations and private individuals.

ADVERTISEMENT

Nigeria’s security challenges in the North and Middle Belt continue to generate large-scale displacement. Plateau State has seen repeated cycles of attack and flight, with IDP camps still housing thousands years after major incidents.

Faith-based groups, including Christian associations and international partners, have distributed food and other relief in places such as Mangu and Bokkos. Broader data show millions of Nigerians affected by conflict-driven displacement nationwide, with civilians of various faiths among the victims.

The RCCG’s response forms part of a wider pattern in which the church has publicly addressed national insecurity. Its leadership has spoken on the need for decisive security measures, organised prayer and fasting programmes focused on peace and an end to bloodshed, and maintained that spiritual and moral counsel remain central to its contribution while primary responsibility for protection rests with the state.

Odesola’s remarks underline a consistent theme: the church rejects both indifference and the idea that any single institution can solve the crisis alone. Collaboration, greater transparency and sustained practical support, he argued, offer the most realistic path toward easing the suffering of those still living with the consequences of Northern insecurity.