The International Crisis Group (ICG) has called on the United States to drop its military threats and instead prioritise supporting efforts to protect Nigerians and strengthen the country’s internal security system.
The group said sustainable peace would be achieved through dialogue, capacity building, and partnership rather than coercive measures.
In its latest Nigeria report, the global conflict-research and peace-building organization said Trump’s warning of an operation to stop “mass slaughter” of Christians in Nigeria is misinformed, and that such an operation could aggravate ongoing crises.
According to the ICG, “reports that seek to reduce Nigeria’s security situation to a single story of widespread persecution and mass slaughter of Christians, all over Nigeria, misinterpret the complexity of violence and interfaith relations in the country.”
The group observes that while Nigeria’s overall security situation has deteriorated in recent decades, “it would be hard to credibly argue that Christians are at greater risk than other Nigerians.”
Citing studies by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), ICG asserts that “killings motivated explicitly by religious extremism or intolerance account for only a part of overall fatalities across the country.”
Also citing statements by ethnic and political leaders in Benue and Plateau states, the organization explains that killings in Nigeria are more often “motivated by ethnic or material considerations, rather than religious differences.”
The ICG report argues that the “epicentres” of violence currently include the North East and North West zones, where “the majority religion is Islam, and most of the victims have, by all appearances, been Muslims.”
The ICG cautions that US airstrikes to “protect Christians” may not achieve their intended goal, as such actions, along with aid cuts, could exacerbate Nigeria’s security and humanitarian challenges, stir public anti-American sentiments, and undermine local efforts at improving interfaith relations.
However, the organization urges the President Bola Tinubu administration to “summon utmost political will and marshal greater resources” to decisively dismantle armed groups across the country.
It also called on the government to boost the capacity of security forces so they can protect citizens effectively, hasten reform of the livestock sector to curb long associated conflicts, and strengthen Nigeria’s communication with international actors, including by filling ambassadorial posts worldwide, vacant since 2023.
To sustain international efforts towards ending mass killings, Crisis Group urged the US government to step up engagements with the Nigerian government through various existing channels, from high-level bilateral summits to the US-Nigeria Binational Commission.
