The State Department on Monday officially updated his designation Nigeria as a “country of particular concern” for its alleged serious violations of religious freedom and persecution of Christians.
The CPC label is awarded by the US government to nations “engaged in serious violations of religious freedom” under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998. The designation is largely symbolic, but US law states that governments must “adopt specific responses to violations of religious freedom.”
President Donald Trump gestures as he walks on the South Lawn of the White House, Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025, in Washington, after returning from a trip to Florida.
Mark Schiefelbein/AP
The move comes after President Donald Trump accused the Nigerian government of not doing enough to protect Christians from violence. He also ordered the Pentagon on Saturday to prepare for possible action in Nigeria and threatened to cut US aid.
The Secretary of State is responsible for considering a country a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC). Other countries designated as CPCs include Burma, the People’s Republic of China, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
Trump previously designated Nigeria as a CPC in December 2020 during his first term, but that designation was reversed the following year under the Biden administration.
Obama’s Secretary of State Antony Blinken removed Nigeria from the CCP designation list in November 2021 after assessing that it did not meet the criteria for a formal designation of concern for “systematic, ongoing and egregious” violations of religious freedom.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom criticized the move at the time, saying the decision to remove Nigeria from the special designation was “inexplicable” and egregious.
President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth attend a Cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, Oct. 9, 2025.
Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
According to the State Department, the International Religious Freedom Act requires an annual review of the state of religious freedom around the world and the designation of countries that have “engaged in or tolerated particularly serious violations of religious freedom” during the reporting period.
The IRFA defines particularly serious violations of religious freedom as “systematic, continuous, and egregious violations of religious freedom, including violations such as torture, degrading treatment or punishment, prolonged detention without charge, kidnapping or clandestine detention, or other flagrant denial of the right to life, liberty, or security of the person,” according to the State Department.
Once a country has been designated a CPC by the Secretary of State, Congress is notified, and when non-economic policy options designed to bring about an end to particularly egregious violations of religious freedom have been reasonably exhausted, an economic measure generally must be imposed, the State Department says.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio listens as President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One as it travels from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Tokyo, Japan, Oct. 27, 2025.
Mark Schiefelbein/AP
Congress will investigate
Trump asked Rep. Riley Moore, R-West Virginia, to lead an investigation into the alleged killing of Christians in Nigeria. Moore has been a strong advocate for Christians in Africa. Last month, he asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio to designate Nigeria as a country of particular concern.
Moore applauded Trump’s move over the weekend and said he, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole and the House Foreign Affairs Committee would investigate alleged religious persecution.
In August, Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas introduced a bill calling for sanctions against Nigeria for alleged religious freedom violations and designating Nigeria as a PCC.
In March 2025, the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa held a hearing to discuss “Conflict and Persecution in Nigeria” and the case for designating Nigeria as a CPC.
According to Moore’s office, more than 7,000 Christians have been killed in Nigeria in 2025 alone (an average of 35 per day) and hundreds more have been kidnapped, tortured or displaced by extremist groups such as Boko Haram, ISIS in West Africa and Fulani militants. According to Moore’s office, reports indicate that between 50,000 and 100,000 Christians have been murdered and more than 19,000 Christian churches have been attacked or destroyed since 2009. Open Doors data indicates that more Christians are murdered each year in Nigeria than in the rest of the world combined.
But those figures have been widely questioned.
Extremist violence in the country “affects large numbers of Christians and Muslims in several states in Nigeria,” the US Commission on International Religious Freedom concluded in 2024.
Experts say both Christians and Muslims – the two main religious groups in the country of more than 230 million people – have been victims of attacks by radical Islamists.
Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu also rejected the claims by Trump and other lawmakers, writing: “The characterization of Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality, nor does it take into account the government’s consistent and sincere efforts to safeguard the freedom of religion and belief of all Nigerians.”
Trump threatens to suspend US aid
The United States has committed approximately $1.02 billion in aid to Nigeria for fiscal year 2023, according to U.S. government figures.
Slightly less aid was reported for fiscal year 2024, at $902.9 million.
And even less in Foreign aid to Nigeria is projected for fiscal year 2025: approximately $550 million has been committed for the year, although data is incomplete. It is unclear how much aid Trump is considering cutting.
Despite the closure of the U.S. Agency for International Development and cuts to all U.S. foreign aid, the U.S. government announced a $32.5 million contribution to Nigeria in September 2025 that would “provide food assistance and nutritional support to internally displaced people in conflict-affected areas,” according to the U.S. Embassy and Consulate in Nigeria.
Trump gets celebrity endorsements
Rapper Nicki Minaj thanked Trump for his tweet about the persecution of Christians in Nigeria over the weekend. Minaj is not Nigerian; She is Trinidadian.
“Reading this made me feel a deep sense of gratitude. We live in a country where we can worship God freely. No group should be persecuted for practicing their religion,” Minaj said on X. “We don’t have to share the same beliefs so we can respect each other. Numerous countries around the world are being affected by this horror. & It is dangerous to pretend that we do not notice. thanks to the president & to your team for taking this seriously. God bless every persecuted Christian. Let us remember to lift them up in prayer.”
US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz thanked Minaj for “using her platform to speak out in defense of persecuted Christians in Nigeria.”
He also invited her to speak more in depth about what the administration is doing to protect Christians around the world. “We cannot allow this to continue,” Waltz added. “Every brother and sister of Christ must unite and say, ‘Enough!'”
