The US is devising a plan that may include sanctions to compel Nigeria to protect Christian communities, a senior official said.
During a House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Thursday, Jonathan Pratt, the State Department’s senior official for African affairs, said Nigeria has “not done enough” to combat deadly violence targeting Christians in the country’s central region. The issue led the Trump administration to redesignate Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” in October.
Abuja has shown a welcome “willingness to cooperate” since the CPC designation, Pratt said, and an official delegation led by Nigeria’s national security adviser met US Congressman Riley Moore — a chief proponent of claims of genocide against Nigerian Christians — this week. But the Trump administration is nevertheless working on a plan that could include sanctions “as well as possible Department of War engagement on counter-terrrorism and other efforts to protect religious communities,” he said.