Nigeria: Christianity

(asked on 22nd July 2020) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the extent to which Nigerian national or state Government officials have been involved in either preventing or allowing incidences of persecution and human rights abuses to take place against Christians in Nigeria.


Answered by
James Duddridge Portrait
James Duddridge
This question was answered on 1st September 2020

The UK Government is firmly committed to promoting and protecting human rights around the world. We have made clear to the Nigerian authorities at the highest levels the importance of protecting civilians, including all ethnic and religious groups, and human rights for all Nigerians.

We are aware of allegations of Nigerian military or government complicity in attacks on communities of all faiths in Nigeria. However, we do not assess that there is systemic complicity by the Nigerian authorities in the persecution of any peoples in Nigeria. The Nigerian Armed Forces are deployed in North East Nigeria to tackle the threat from terrorist groups including Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa, who continue to cause immense suffering on communities of all faiths. Through our engagement and programmatic activity in Nigeria, the UK Government is supporting efforts to bring about the long-term changes needed to improve human rights compliance. For example, UK capacity building training for the Nigerian Armed Forces specifically includes topics on human rights compliance and rules of engagement.

In January, the Prime Minister discussed insecurity in Nigeria with President Buhari. In June, I raised security concerns in Nigeria with President Buhari's Chief of Staff. We will continue to monitor levels of violence in Nigeria, and to push for allegations of human rights abuses to be investigated and for those responsible to be held to account.

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