When noted religious skeptic and TV host Bill Maher highlighted the plight of Christians in Nigeria during a conversation with South Carolina Republican Rep. Nancy Mace in September, he brought up a conversation that has been an ongoing tension for many of us in the humanitarian space: the conflicts that cause the greatest suffering do not always correlate with the greatest attention.
Reflecting on the atrocities taking place in Nigeria, Mayer lamented on the show: “This is so much more of a genocide attempt than what is happening in Gaza. They are literally trying to wipe out the Christian population of an entire country. Where are the children protesting this?”
The point is: the suffering of Gazans is legitimate. Just as Israel’s suffering on October 7, 2023 and beyond was legitimate. And that also applies to the suffering in Sudan, Yemen, Syria and Nigeria. What differs is the attention we pay and our willingness to sit with the complexity and discomfort required to arrive at lasting solutions.
I grew up in Niger. I spent my childhood in the Sahel region at a time when a Christian in a Muslim-majority region could expect to live in relative peace and optimism. Growing up, I knew many mixed-faith Nigerian families who lived in harmony. As a nation and as a region, we had hope. The promises of the Green Revolution, trade and the West African economic community had us anticipating a growth trajectory.
The EU and the West have lost their last security partner in the Sahel as Niger announced a new alliance with Russia. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick, File)
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Today’s Nigeria is nothing like that of my youth. Climate change, capitalism, debt, corruption, the COVID-19 crisis and changing donor trends have all led to more poverty, less hope and more conflict. It has been tragic to watch my home region evolve into a dangerous area where tolerance has been replaced by extremism and religion has become a weapon to fill the void left when hope faded and hunger increased.
When people are desperate, we see an increase in extremism and religious persecution. Nigeria is divided almost according to cardinal decrees into Muslim-majority regions and Christian and Catholic sections. Colonial-era factors combine with climatic shifts that make a nomadic lifestyle unsustainable and have transitioned into intolerable hostility that cuts across religious beliefs.
As Liam Karr, team leader of Critical Threats Africa at the American Enterprise Institute, aptly breaks down, when you layer religious overtones over an existing ethnic divide and scare resources, conflict arises.
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Being a Christian in Nigeria is no longer easy. Jihadist organizations, including Boko Haram, have committed religiously implied killings over the past sixteen years, slaughtering 125,009 Christians and more than 60,000 “liberal” Muslims who do not share the extremist views of the ruling groups. During that time, 19,100 churches were looted. According to Open Doors, more Christians are now murdered for their faith in Nigeria than anywhere else in the world combined, even though Nigeria ranks seventh in the top 50 countries known for their persecution of Christians.
In the sub-Saharan part of Africa, 16.2 million Christians have been forced to leave their homes, including a large number of Nigerians. For Nigerians, this often means living as displaced persons in Chad.
To change this, you must combine hope with solutions that address the root causes of instability. At World Relief, we work to meet both the tangible needs and the spiritual needs of a population, in partnership with the Church. This is the only solution in a multi-faith space. To build social cohesion, trust, shared responsibility and sustainable peacebuilding, you cannot ignore both the material and the intangible.
I was kidnapped by Boko Haram and survived. NOT THANKS TO THE SILENCE OF THE WEST
Unfortunately for an international audience that demands clean lines and quick solutions, this kind of work isn’t solved overnight. Our sisters and brothers in Christ deserve our continued attention and support, whether they are in the Gaza Strip, Syria or the Sahel.
In the short term, we need to provide access to additional humanitarian resources on the ground to alleviate some of the causes of the conflict. Higher-level conversations to address religious tensions will be facilitated if the factors low on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs are addressed first.
Jihadist organizations, including Boko Haram, have committed religiously implied killings over the past sixteen years, slaughtering 125,009 Christians and more than 60,000 “liberal” Muslims who do not share the extremist views of the ruling groups.
I am grateful for the attention that US policymakers have paid to the situation in recent months; between resolutions passed in the House of Representatives in March, the introduction of legislation by Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and West Virginia Republican Riley Moore’s call to Secretary of State Marco Rubio this fall. All three are in favor of re-designating Nigeria as a country of special interest, and we are starting to see a much-needed groundswell.
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In addition, the U.S. provides a unique location to provide assistance to refugees who have a credible fear of persecution under the U.S. refugee resettlement program. During President Donald Trump’s first term, he was the first president to explicitly identify religious persecution as critical for individuals served through the program.
As a result of the government shutdown, we continue to anticipate the presidential refugee resettlement determination for fiscal year 2026, and I urge the President to consider populations such as those Christians in Nigeria whose safety could be ensured by a resettlement quota of at least the 50,000 he set as a ceiling in 2017.
Chibok schoolgirls freed from Boko Haram captivity are seen in Abuja, Nigeria, Sunday, May 7, 2017. (AP Photo / Olamikan Gbemiga)
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It is up to us as American consumers of media and information to search the world for news about our brothers and sisters in Christ. Newsrooms respond to demand; as we turn our attention abroad, coverage will improve. Now more than ever, we need transparent eyes and ears in situations where evil is at work in the dark, and the American church is uniquely poised to use its considerable influence to bring light into the darkness.
Finally, let us not cease to mourn and implore Christ on behalf of our sisters and brothers throughout the world. As a global church, we participate in the suffering of Christ, just as we participate in the suffering of others. He is with the suffering, and his attention does not waver.
