The United States government has said Nigeria has not made sufficient progress in stopping attacks on Christian communities, warning that the country’s designation as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) should remain in place.
Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Frank Garcia, made the assessment on Thursday, November 12, 2026, during a congressional hearing on violence in Nigeria.
Garcia spoke while responding to questions from US Congressman Riley Moore, who challenged the Nigerian government’s efforts to dismantle militia strongholds and kidnapping camps, particularly in Benue and Plateau states.
Moore questioned the progress made since US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Allison Hooker, raised concerns about Nigeria’s response to attacks in August.
He also asked why Benue and Plateau states were excluded from the 10 states covered by Nigeria’s new forest guard initiative, despite persistent attacks in the areas.
The congressman further expressed concern that 1,000 presidentially approved forest guards for Plateau State had yet to be deployed.
Moore argued that Nigeria had not done enough to address the violence and insisted that the United States should not remove the country from its CPC list.
Responding, Garcia acknowledged that Nigeria had yet to record sufficient progress, although he maintained that the government was taking steps to address Washington’s concerns.
He explained that the measures introduced so far had not produced the desired impact, particularly in protecting vulnerable communities and ensuring accountability for perpetrators.
Garcia described Nigeria’s current efforts as largely focused on building security capacity, adding that the deployment and effectiveness of those resources remained inadequate and slower than expected.
He, however, acknowledged that the Nigerian government was demonstrating seriousness in addressing the concerns.
The US official identified the establishment of the US-Nigeria Joint Working Group as an important step towards monitoring Nigeria’s commitments and assessing the effectiveness of measures introduced to protect vulnerable communities.
He also highlighted US-supported counterterrorism operations in the Lake Chad Basin, while noting that these efforts had not necessarily addressed attacks attributed to armed groups operating across the Middle Belt.
Garcia disclosed that Washington had provided training and equipment to Nigerian police units responsible for protecting vulnerable communities. The two countries had also expanded biometric information-sharing to support the identification and prosecution of suspected perpetrators.
Additionally, the US had worked with Nigerian financial institutions on measures to disrupt terrorist financing networks believed to be funding attacks on churches.
The assistant secretary said Washington expected Nigeria to improve security deployments, respond more quickly to early warnings of attacks and strengthen judicial processes to ensure those responsible were prosecuted.
He also raised concerns about civilian casualties, the safe return of internally displaced persons to their communities and transparency in humanitarian assistance.
The CPC designation was introduced by the administration of US President Donald Trump on October 31, 2025, over concerns about religious freedom and violence against Christian communities.
However, the Nigerian government has consistently rejected claims of a Christian genocide or systematic religious persecution, maintaining that insecurity in the country is driven by terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and other criminal activities affecting Nigerians across religious lines.
The latest comments underline continuing differences between Washington and Abuja over the scale, causes and appropriate response to violence in Nigeria.
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