Religious Freedom: “We’re seeing a lot of religious-tinged violence taking place in that country – US explains why it blacklisted Nigeria

The United States government has explained why it added Nigeria to its list of violators of religious freedom. 

U.S Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, Samuel Brownback said the decision was taken because ‘a number of terrorist groups are organising and pushing into the country, and the government’s response to terrorist activities has been minimal.”

Brownback added that a lot of ”religious-tinged violence” are taking place in the country which is of great concern to the world. 

He said; 

 “The Secretary and, really, the world, has great concern about what’s taking place in Nigeria at this time. A number of terrorist groups are organising and pushing into the country.

“We’re seeing a lot of religious-tinged violence taking place in that country and indeed in West Africa. It’s an area of growing concern about what’s happening, in particular the tension that’s taking place there between religious groups. And it’s often the religious affiliation that is used to try to recruit and inspire violent acts.

The ambassador added that a major concern for the U.S regarding Nigeria is “the lack of adequate government response in Nigeria. 

“You’ve got expanded terrorist activities, you’ve got a lot of them associated around religious affiliations. The government’s response has been minimal to not happening at all. 

“A number of cases – there have not been criminal cases brought forward by the government. The terrorism continues to happen and grow, in some places unabated.” he said