The United States has said Nigeria has yet to make sufficient progress in addressing attacks on Christian communities, warning that the country’s designation as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) should remain in place.
The Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Frank Garcia, made this known while responding to questions from US Congressman Riley Moore during a congressional hearing on violence in Nigeria on Thursday.
Moore questioned the Nigerian government’s efforts to dismantle militia strongholds and kidnapping camps in the Middle Belt, particularly in Benue and Plateau states.
He also asked what operations had been carried out since US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Allison Hooker, raised concerns about the pace of Nigeria’s response in August.
The congressman further questioned why Benue and Plateau were excluded from the 10 states covered by Nigeria’s new forest guard initiative, despite repeated attacks in the two states.
He also noted that 1,000 presidentially approved guards for Plateau State had yet to be deployed.
Moore argued that the US should not remove Nigeria from the CPC list, insisting that the government had not done enough to address the violence.
“Before you answer that, we cannot take this CPC designation off of this country. They have not done enough,” he said.
Responding, Garcia acknowledged that Nigeria had not made sufficient progress but said the government was taking steps to address the concerns, although those efforts had yet to produce the desired results.
“I think we would agree, as Under Secretary Hooker stated, after our CPC meeting that progress has not been there, but that doesn’t mean that Nigeria is dismissing concerns, and it doesn’t mean that they’re not taking actions, but it does mean that it hasn’t had an impact to this point,” he said.
Garcia identified the establishment of the US-Nigeria Joint Working Group as an important step towards ensuring accountability and monitoring the Nigerian government’s commitments.
He also acknowledged US-supported counterterrorism operations in the Lake Chad Basin but noted that they had not necessarily addressed the activities of Fulani militants operating across the Middle Belt.
“I would have to characterise the Nigerians’ placement at this point as in building capacity. And that capacity is not deployed, is not being effective yet, and is not moving fast enough, as far as I’m concerned. But we do see a seriousness, and a deployment underway with the Nigerian government,” Garcia said.
US outlines measures to address attacks
In his prepared testimony, Garcia said President Donald Trump’s administration had made the persecution of Christians in Nigeria a priority since the country was redesignated a Country of Particular Concern on October 31, 2025.
He said attacks had continued despite diplomatic engagements, citing a July 27 attack on a Christian community in Kaduna State and killings in Plateau State in August and September.
“Unfortunately, the violence has not stopped,” Garcia said, describing the attacks as an ongoing atrocity.
He said the US had engaged the Nigerian government through the Joint Working Group, which held its first meeting in Abuja in January and another in Washington in August.
According to him, discussions focused on increasing security deployments in vulnerable Middle Belt communities, improving responses to early warnings, ensuring accountability for perpetrators and strengthening military cooperation.
Garcia said the US had also provided training and equipment to police units responsible for protecting vulnerable communities through its Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs.
He added that Washington had expanded biometric information-sharing with Nigeria to help identify and prosecute those responsible for attacks.
The US had also worked with Nigerian financial institutions on an action plan to disrupt terrorist financing networks allegedly funding attacks on churches.
Garcia further disclosed that Hooker, during the Joint Working Group’s second meeting, raised concerns about civilian casualties, the safe and voluntary return of internally displaced persons and the need for greater transparency in humanitarian aid spending and delivery.
However, he acknowledged that Nigeria’s security architecture remained overstretched and that judicial access to some parts of the Middle Belt was limited.
He said the US would continue to use diplomatic engagements, the CPC designation and targeted security cooperation to press for the protection of Christian communities and accountability for those responsible for attacks.
The Federal Government has consistently rejected claims of a “Christian genocide” or targeted religious persecution in Nigeria. It maintains that the country’s widespread violence is driven by broader security challenges, including banditry, terrorism and resource conflicts, which affect citizens of different faiths.
