US says Nigeria’s response to religious violence poor
By Modupe Shodeinde
The United States of America said that it placed Nigeria on religious freedom blacklist because of increase in religious violence in the country with little or minimal response from government.
The US ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, Samuel Brownback, said Nigeria was designated a “country of particular concern” after years of placing her under a watch list for allegedly enabling violations of religious rights.
He explained that the Nigerian government had been tolerating egregious acts taking place in the nation.
“We’re seeing a lot of religious-tinged violence taking place in that country and indeed in West Africa. It’s an area of growing concern about what’s happening, in particular, the tension that’s taking place there between religious groups. And it’s often the religious affiliation is used to try to recruit and inspire violent acts.”
“You’ve got expanded terrorist activities, you’ve got a lot of it associated around religious affiliations, and the government’s response has been minimal to not happening at all,” he said
According to Brownback, the Nigerian government has failed to bring any criminal case forward even though terrorism continues to happen and grow, unabated in some places.
He urged the government to act fast, saying the US was ready to work with Nigerian officials.
