Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of warnings by bandits to Nigerians to close their churches or risk attacks; whether they have raised this with the government of Nigeria; and if so, what response they received.

The Government is concerned by increasing insecurity in Nigeria, including recent reports of criminal groups warning churches to close. The Government condemns all attacks on places of worship. We regularly raise rising insecurity and the importance of protecting civilians of all ethnicities and religions with both the Federal Government and State Governments in Nigeria. The British High Commission in Abuja has recently discussed these issues with the State Governors of Benue, Katsina, Plateau, Sokoto and Zamfara State. On 1 November, the Minister for Africa raised insecurity in Nigeria with Foreign Minister Onyeama in a bilateral meeting at the COP26 summit in Glasgow. The Prime Minister also discussed insecurity with President Buhari in the margins of the Global Education Summit in July.

We continue to support inter-faith peacebuilding organisations to promote social cohesion and identify solutions to escalating violence across multiple states in Nigeria. The underlying drivers of violence are complex and frequently relate to competition over resources and economically-motivated criminality. We will continue to urge and support the Nigerian Government to take action to implement long-term solutions that address the root causes of violence.