NIGERIA USCIRF–RECOMMENDED FOR COUNTRIES OF PARTICULAR CONCERN (CPC) KEY FINDINGS I n 2020, religious freedom conditions in Nigeria deteriorated, with both state and nonstate actors committing egregious violations of the right to freedom of religion or belief. Despite Nigeria’s constitution protecting freedom of religion and belief, Nigerian citizens faced violence by militant Islamists and other nonstate armed actors, as well as discrimination, arbitrary detentions, and capital blasphemy sentences by state authorities. State-sanctioned Shari’a courts handed down harsh sentences on several individuals convicted of blasphemy, including sentencing 22-year-old musician Yahaya Sharif-Aminu to death, although a higher court later demanded Sharif-Aminu’s case to be retried. Government authorities also arrested prominent humanist activist Mubarak Bala, reportedly in relation to his expression of his humanist beliefs on social media. Bala continues to be detained without charge, and authorities have restricted his access to his legal team. Militant Islamist groups in Nigeria continued to violate religious freedom in the northeast and expanded to parts of the northwest of the country. Elements from Boko Haram and from the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) abducted and executed several individuals based on their religious beliefs. Boko Haram fighters beheaded a local chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Adamawa State because he refused to renounce his faith, while ISWAP fighters executed five aid workers as a warning to “all those being used by infidels to convert Muslims to Christianity.” Jihadists also conducted several attacks on religious ceremonies: in May they attacked villagers preparing to break their Ramadan fast, killing 20 people, and in July they attacked locals gathering to celebrate Eid al-Adha in Maiduguri. In the center of the country, other nonstate armed groups also conducted attacks on houses of worship, religious ceremonies, and religious leaders. Christian communities were hit particularly hard in the country’s Middle Belt, with nonstate armed actors attacking at least 11 churches and Christian ceremonies. Survivors report that Fulani-affiliated armed groups used religious rhetoric while conducting myriad attacks on predominantly Christian villages in Kaduna State. Kidnappers also reportedly deliberately targeted Christians for abduction and execution. The Nigerian government has routinely failed to investigate these attacks and prosecute those responsible, demonstrating a problematic level of apathy on the part of state officials. RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE U.S. GOVERNMENT • Redesignate Nigeria as a “country of particular concern,” or CPC, for engaging in and tolerating systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom, as defined by the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA), and redesignate Boko Haram and ISWAP as “entities of particular concern,” or EPCs, for engaging in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom, as defined by IRFA; • Enter into a binding agreement, as authorized under Section 405(c) of IRFA, and provide associated financial and technical support to obligate the Nigerian government to take substantial steps to address religious freedom violations, including but not limited to: • Enhance training for officials, the military, and police officers on countering hate speech based on religious identity, responding to sectarian violence, reporting on violence against religious communities, and holding accountable security officers accused of excessive use of force and other human rights abuses; • Promote and expand access to justice and strengthen secular courts in areas where ethnoreligious tensions overlap with trends of heightened violence, criminality, and mob justice; • Increase funding for security sector reform and rule of law programming and include religious institutional actors in security and justice programs; and • Allocate funding for programs that engage civil society, security, and official actors in inclusive efforts to protect places of worship and other holy sites; KEY USCIRF RESOURCES & ACTIVITIES • Factsheet: Violent Islamist Groups in Northern Nigeria • Country Update: Religious Freedom Conditions in Nigeria in 2020 • Factsheet: Religious Tensions and Fulani Communities in West and Central Africa 30 U S C I R F | A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 2 1 • Conduct a comprehensive review of all U.S. aid to Nigeria and its impact on religious freedom conditions in the country; • Develop localized strategies and engage diplomatically with key local government authorities in regions where state-sanctio ne d o r tole r ate d v iolatio n s a re frequent to bring state practices in line with the constitution and international obligations; and • Strengthen the public affairs capacity at the U.S. Embassy in Abuja to respond publicly to developments in religious freedom conditions in Nigeria, including commenting on court cases against religious prisoners of conscience, as well as to amplify domestic voices advocating for stronger religious freedom norms.