US: Nigeria Has Not Done Enough to Protect Christians, CPC Status Must Stay

The United States government has insisted that Nigeria should remain designated a Country of Particular Concern, declaring that the country has failed to make sufficient progress in protecting Christian communities from repeated attacks one year after the classification was reimposed.

Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Frank Garcia delivered the assessment on Thursday during a congressional hearing reviewing Nigeria’s record since President Donald Trump redesignated the country a CPC on October 31, 2025. The hearing, titled “One Year Later: Assessing Nigeria’s Efforts to Protect Christians and Secure the Middle Belt,” was convened by the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa.

Responding to questions from Congressman Riley Moore, Garcia acknowledged that while Nigeria is taking steps and is not dismissing American concerns, those efforts have yet to produce meaningful results on the ground.

ADVERTISEMENT

“Unfortunately, the violence has not stopped,” he said, pointing to a July 27 attack on a Christian community in Kaduna State and further killings in Plateau State in August and September.

Moore was more blunt. Before Garcia could fully respond, the lawmaker declared: “Before you answer that, we cannot take this CPC designation off of this country. They have not done enough.” Moore pressed the State Department on what concrete operations Nigeria had conducted to dismantle militia strongholds and kidnapping camps in the Middle Belt, particularly in Benue and Plateau states, after earlier concerns were raised in August by Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Allison Hooker. He also questioned the exclusion of those states from a forest-guard initiative and delays in deploying 1,000 approved guards to Plateau.

Garcia noted that Nigeria’s security capacity is still being built and that deployments are not happening fast enough. He said the United States has provided police training and equipment, expanded intelligence sharing, and worked with Nigerian financial institutions to disrupt terrorist financing. Washington would continue diplomatic engagement and security cooperation, he added, while maintaining pressure through the CPC designation to secure stronger protection for vulnerable communities and accountability for perpetrators.

The CPC label, reserved for governments accused of engaging in or tolerating systematic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom, carries potential consequences including sanctions and restrictions on assistance. Trump’s 2025 redesignation followed long-standing concerns about attacks by Fulani ethnic militias, Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province, especially in the Middle Belt. Advocacy groups and some US lawmakers continue to describe the violence as targeted persecution of Christians, with Nigeria frequently ranked among the world’s most dangerous places for Christians on the basis of faith-related killings.

Nigerian authorities have consistently rejected the characterisation of a “Christian genocide” or primarily religious persecution. Officials maintain that the country faces a broader security crisis driven by terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and resource-based conflicts that affect citizens of all faiths. They have pointed to increased police recruitment, prosecutions of suspects linked to Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa, and ongoing military cooperation with the United States, including joint operations against terrorist targets.

Despite these steps, US officials and lawmakers at the hearing concluded that the pace of change remains inadequate. Fatalities from security incidents have risen even as the number of recorded incidents has shown only modest improvement in some periods. Christian communities in the Middle Belt continue to report killings, abductions, destruction of homes and churches, and large-scale displacement.

The hearing underscored that the CPC designation will stay in place for now, with Washington signalling that only demonstrable improvements in security deployments, early-warning responses, prosecutions and protection of vulnerable populations will justify any review of the status. Diplomatic and security cooperation between the two countries is expected to continue, but under sustained American scrutiny.