Label Nigeria as country of particular concern — USCIRF urges Trump govt

Eric Patrick 

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has urged that Nigeria be classified as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) in light of the worsening state of religious freedom in 2024.

In its annual report published in March 2025, the USCIRF called on the U.S. State Department under the Trump administration, to recognise Nigeria as well as Afghanistan, India, and Vietnam as new Countries of Particular Concern (CPCs).

This was contained in a statement by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and shared on its website on Tuesday.

The report also recommended that 12 countries be redesignated as CPCs, including Burma, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, Nicaragua, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.

Furthermore, USCIRF recommended that the State Department keep Algeria and Azerbaijan on the Special Watch List (SWL) while also adding ten additional countries to the list. These new additions include Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Syria, Turkey, and Uzbekistan.

The commission has urged for Boko Haram and the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP), also referred to as ISIS-West Africa, to be reclassified as Entities of Particular Concern (EPCs). This recommendation comes alongside the designation of six other groups: al-Shabaab, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Houthis, the Islamic State – Sahel Province (ISSP), and Jamaat Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM).

The report accused both the federal and state governments in Nigeria of "tolerating attacks" or "failing to respond to violent actions by nonstate actors in 2024.

The statement read, “The Nigerian federal government also continued to enforce blasphemy laws that include a penalty of up to two years’ imprisonment for acts “persons consider as a public insult on their religion.”

“Several state governments also enforced their own more stringent blasphemy laws to prosecute and imprison individuals perceived to have insulted religion, including Christians, Muslims, and humanists. At least five prisoners remained in state custody on blasphemy charges at the end of the year, including Mubarak Bala, Yahaya Sharif–Aminu, Isma’ila Sani Isah, Sheikh Abduljabar Nasiru Kabara, and Abdulazeez Inyass.

“Authorities charged Bala, a humanist, for “insulting the Prophet Muhammad” in 2021 and sentenced him to 24 years in prison in 2022.

“However, in May, judicial authorities reduced the sentence to five years. In 2020, a court convicted Sharif-Aminu, a Sufi Muslim, for “insulting the religious creed” and sentenced him to death, but a high court ordered a retrial in 2021, and he remains in prison after filing an appeal. Kabara and Inyass remain imprisoned under death sentences that courts imposed in 2022 and 2016, respectively.

“Nigeria’s indigenous religious communities—in Muslim-majority and Christian-majority areas alike—came under elevated harassment from state governments that sought to restrict public displays of indigenous practices and rituals. In July, the Anambra State government demolished an indigenous shrine after the governor and Catholic bishops called on the state “to eliminate and banish neo-paganism and the works of darkness and evil.”

“Similarly, the House of Assembly in Ebonyi State banned certain behavior, such as spiritual cleansing, by indigenous priests in the Izzi community. Elected representatives in both locales reportedly feared violence would result if such local priests carried out religious ceremonies."

“In late December, a court in Bauchi State acquitted Christian nurse Rhoda Jatau, more than two years after her arrest on allegations of blasphemy for reportedly sharing a message on social media condemning the murder of a Christian student. USCIRF had engaged in extended advocacy for her release,” the statement added.

The report described Nigeria as the most populous country in Africa, with a population of about 237 million people.

It said, “Approximately 53 percent of the population are Muslim, 10.6 percent are Roman Catholic, and 35.3 percent are part of other Christian denominations.

“Other communities, including Baha’is, Buddhists, Hindus, and atheists, make up less than one percent of the population. Many Nigerians practice traditional indigenous religions, although related statistics are difficult to ascertain.

“Nigeria’s 1999 constitution protects freedom of religion or belief and prohibits the state from establishing an official religion.

“The constitution also recognizes common law courts, traditional law, and Shari’a courts for criminal and noncriminal proceedings, but common law civil courts theoretically have preeminence over all other inferior courts.”

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom is a U.S. federal government commission created by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to monitor and address religious freedom violations worldwide.