US Offers $3.5m to Monitor Religious Violence in Nigeria

ABUJA – The United States Department of State has announced a $3.5 million (approximately ₦5 billion) funding opportunity aimed at improving the documentation and reporting of religious freedom abuses in Nigeria, while also criticising what it described as inadequate responses by Nigerian authorities to attacks on faith communities.

The initiative, unveiled by the Office of International Religious Freedom (IRF) under the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labour, seeks applications from organisations capable of strengthening reporting efforts on attacks linked to religion and belief across the country.

According to the notice of funding opportunity released on May 22, 2026, the programme will run for between 24 and 48 months, with one award anticipated under either a grant or cooperative agreement. The State Department stated that the project aimed to enhance efforts to monitor and document abuses committed by both state and non-state actors in Nigeria.

“The Office of International Religious Freedom announces an open competition for organisations interested in submitting applications for projects that improve documentation and reporting efforts on religious freedom abuses in Nigeria, for accountability, advocacy, and memorialisation,” the notice stated.

The document referenced violence linked to Boko Haram, Fulani ethnic militias, ISIS-West Africa, and other armed groups, saying attacks have affected both Christians and Muslims. “Documenters, human rights and religious freedom advocates, religious leaders and community members, academics, journalists, and survivors have contributed to an evidence base that illustrates the extreme levels of violence perpetrated by Boko Haram, ISIS-West Africa, Fulani ethnic militias, and other armed actors against Christians and Muslims,” the notice said.

The US government also criticised what it described as inadequate responses by Nigerian authorities to attacks on faith communities. “Civil society reports indicate that authorities regularly fail to respond in a timely or effective manner to violent attacks against civilians and faith communities, and particularly attacks against Christians,” the document stated. It added, “This leads to widespread impunity for violence which encourages more violence, leading to further abuses and displacements.”

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The notice further alleged that some security personnel had raided places of worship while searching for suspected criminals. “There are also credible reports of Nigerian security personnel raiding places of worship and injuring clergy and congregants in search of alleged criminals,” it said.

The State Department said the funding initiative followed President Donald Trump’s decision to designate Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) over religious freedom issues in November 2025. “President Trump’s decision to designate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern placed a spotlight on the severity of these longstanding and worsening problems,” the document stated.

The CPC designation followed a joint report by the House Appropriations Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee, which described Nigeria as “the most dangerous place in the world to practice the Christian faith.” According to a 2023 Vatican report, over 18,000 churches have been destroyed in Nigeria since 2009 in attacks by Boko Haram militants, Fulani herdsmen, and others. The report recommended a bilateral agreement with Nigeria to protect vulnerable Christian communities, sanctions on perpetrators, and the repeal of sharia codes and criminal anti-blasphemy laws.

President Trump had announced the redesignation on October 31, 2025, via his Truth Social platform, stating: “Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria. Thousands of Christians are being killed. Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter. I am hereby making Nigeria a ‘COUNTRY OF PARTICULAR CONCERN’.” This is the second time in five years that Nigeria has been placed on the CPC list. The first came in December 2020 during Trump’s earlier administration, citing systematic and ongoing violations of religious freedom. The Joe Biden administration removed Nigeria from the list in November 2021.

The $3.5 million monitoring initiative comes amid broader efforts by the US Congress to impose stricter conditions on aid to Nigeria. A House resolution introduced in November 2025 commending Trump’s CPC redesignation called for targeted sanctions under the Global Magnitsky framework against individuals and entities responsible for severe violations of religious freedom in Nigeria, including the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN).

The resolution also urged the State Department to condition US foreign assistance on the Nigerian government taking “immediate and effective steps to prevent religious persecution, prosecute perpetrators of violence, take action to care for the millions of internally displaced persons, and uphold constitutional protections for religious freedom.” Republican lawmaker Riley Moore, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, had previously sent a letter to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, urging “immediate action” to address what he called the “systematic persecution and slaughter of Christians in Nigeria.”

The IRF said proposals submitted under the programme should aim to improve accountability for violations through “monitoring, documenting, and reporting of such abuses committed by either state or non-state actors in Nigeria.” Applicants are expected to prioritise activities in the Middle Belt and identify at least four states where projects would be implemented. The Middle Belt region has experienced recurring security challenges and inter-communal tensions.

The funding opportunity is open to foreign and US-based non-profit organisations, public international organisations, higher education institutions, and for-profit entities, although the department said it prefers working with non-profit groups. Applications are due by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, July 9, 2026.

The Federal Government has consistently rejected allegations of religious persecution, maintaining that insecurity affects all citizens regardless of faith, while also stating continued cooperation with the US on counterterrorism and security reforms. President Bola Tinubu rejected the CPC designation, describing it as a misrepresentation of Nigeria’s reality. “Nigeria is a democracy with constitutional guarantees of religious liberty,” he said, stressing that the country does not sanction religious persecution.

The Nigerian government has insisted that the country’s security challenges affect citizens of different faiths and ethnic backgrounds, and that violence is rooted in a complex mix of terrorism, criminality, resource conflicts, and communal disputes. However, critics point to the scale of violence documented over the years. According to a 2023 report by Open Doors, Nigeria accounts for 89 percent of Christians martyred worldwide. An August 2024 report from the Observatory of Religious Freedom in Africa found that approximately 56,000 people died in attacks and about 22,000 people were abducted by terror groups in Nigeria between October 2019 and September 2023.

US Offers $3.5m to Monitor Religious Violence in Nigeria