The State Division on Monday officially updated its designation for Nigeria as a “Nation of Specific Concern” for its alleged extreme violations of spiritual freedom and persecution of Christians.
The CPC label is given by the U.S. authorities to nations “engaged in extreme violations of spiritual freedom” below the Worldwide Spiritual Freedom Act of 1998. The designation is essentially symbolic, however U.S. regulation states that governments should “take focused responses to violations of spiritual freedom.”
President Donald Trump gestures whereas strolling throughout the South Garden of the White Home, Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025, in Washington, after coming back from a visit to Florida.
Mark Schiefelbein/AP
The transfer comes after President Donald Trump accused the Nigerian authorities of not doing sufficient to guard Christians from violence. He additionally instructed the Pentagon on Saturday to arrange for doable motion in Nigeria and threatened to chop U.S. assist.
The secretary of state is accountable for deeming a rustic a “Nation of Specific Concern” (CPC). Different international locations designated as CPCs embrace Burma, the Folks’s Republic of China, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, the Democratic Folks’s Republic of Korea, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.
Trump beforehand designated Nigeria as a CPC in December 2020 throughout his first time period in workplace, however that designation was reversed the next 12 months below the Biden administration.
Biden Secretary of State Antony Blinken eliminated Nigeria from the CPC designation record in November 2021 after assessing it didn’t meet the factors a proper designation of concern concerning “systematic, ongoing, and egregious” violations of spiritual freedom.
The U.S. Fee on Worldwide Spiritual Freedom blasted the transfer on the time and mentioned the choice to take away Nigeria from the particular designation was “unexplainable” and appalling.
President Donald Trump and Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth attend a cupboard assembly on the White Home in Washington, October 9, 2025.
Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
In keeping with the State Division, the Worldwide Spiritual Freedom Act requires an annual evaluation of the standing of spiritual freedom worldwide and the designation of nations which have “engaged in or tolerated significantly extreme violations of spiritual freedom” in the course of the reporting interval.
The IRFA defines significantly extreme violations of spiritual freedom as “systematic, ongoing, egregious violations of spiritual freedom, together with violations resembling torture, degrading therapy or punishment, extended detention with out expenses, abduction or clandestine detention, or different flagrant denial of the precise to life, liberty, or the safety of individuals,” in response to the State Division.
After a rustic has been designated a CPC by the secretary of state, Congress is then notified, and the place non-economic coverage choices designed to result in cessation of the significantly extreme violations of spiritual freedom have fairly been exhausted, an financial measure usually have to be imposed, the State Division states.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio listens as President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Pressure One whereas touring from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Tokyo, Japan, Oct. 27, 2025.
Mark Schiefelbein/AP
Congress will examine
Trump referred to as on Rep. Riley Moore, a Republican from West Virginia, to guide an investigation into the alleged slaughtering of Christians in Nigeria. Moore has been a vocal advocate for Christians in Africa. Final month, he referred to as on Secretary of State Marco Rubio to designate Nigeria as a rustic of explicit concern.
Moore applauded Trump’s transfer over the weekend and mentioned he and Home Appropriations Committee chairman Tom Cole, and the Home Overseas Affairs Committee would examine the alleged spiritual persecution.
In August, GOP Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas launched a invoice calling for sanctions in opposition to Nigeria for purported violations of spiritual freedom and to designate Nigeria as a CPC.
In March 2025, the Home Overseas Affairs Subcommittee on Africa held a listening to to debate “Battle and Persecution in Nigeria” and the case for designating Nigeria a CPC.
In keeping with Moore’s workplace, greater than 7,000 Christians have been killed in Nigeria in 2025 alone — a median of 35 per day — with lots of extra kidnapped, tortured, or displaced by extremist teams resembling Boko Haram, ISIS West Africa, and the Fulani militants. In keeping with Moore’s workplace, stories point out that between 50,000 and 100,000 Christians have been killed and greater than 19,000 Christian church buildings have been attacked or destroyed since 2009. Information from Open Doorways point out that extra Christians are killed yearly in Nigeria than the remainder of the world mixed.
However these numbers have been extensively disputed.
Extremist violence within the nation “impacts massive numbers of Christians and Muslims in a number of states throughout Nigeria,” the US Fee on Worldwide Spiritual Freedom present in 2024.
Consultants say each Christians and Muslims — the 2 foremost spiritual teams within the nation of greater than 230 million folks — have been victims of assaults by radical Islamists.
Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has additionally pushed again in opposition to Trump’s and different lawmakers’ claims, writing “The characterisation of Nigeria as religiously illiberal doesn’t mirror our nationwide actuality, nor does it think about the constant and honest efforts of the federal government to safeguard freedom of faith and beliefs for all Nigerians.”
Trump threatens to halt U.S. assist
The U.S. dedicated roughly $1.02 billion in assist to Nigeria for fiscal 12 months 2023, in response to U.S. authorities figures.
Barely much less assist was reported for FY2024 at $902.9 million.
And even much less in international assist to Nigeria is projected for FY2025 — roughly $550 million has been obligated for the 12 months, although the info is incomplete. It is unclear how a lot assist Trump is contemplating reducing.
Regardless of the shuttering of the U.S. Company for Worldwide Improvement and cuts to all U.S. international assist, the U.S. authorities introduced a contribution of $32.5 million to Nigeria in September 2025 that may “present meals help and diet assist to internally displaced individuals throughout conflict-affected areas,” in response to the U.S. Embassy and Consulate in Nigeria.
Trump will get celeb endorsement
Rapper Nicki Minaj thanked Trump for his tweet addressing persecution of Christians in Nigeria over the weekend. Minaj will not be Nigerian; she is Trinidadian.
“Studying this made me really feel a deep sense of gratitude. We reside in a rustic the place we are able to freely worship God. No group ought to ever be persecuted for practising their faith,” Minaj mentioned on X. “We don’t must share the identical beliefs to ensure that us to respect one another. Quite a few international locations all world wide are being affected by this horror & it’s harmful to faux we don’t discover. Thanks to The President & his workforce for taking this critically. God bless each persecuted Christian. Let’s bear in mind to carry them up in prayer.”
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz thanked Minaj for “utilizing your platform to talk out in protection of the Christians being persecuted in Nigeria.”
He additionally invited her to speak extra in depth about what the administration is doing to guard Christians world wide. “We can’t enable this to proceed,” Waltz added. “Each brother and sister of Christ should band collectively and say, ‘Sufficient!'”
