Two recently held major international conferences brought together thousands of religious freedom advocates and government officials to cooperate in taking concrete action to end religious persecution.  

The mass murder of praying congregants in a Nigerian church was horrific enough. But even worse was the daft conclusion of Irish President Michael Higgins that it was another grim consequence of climate change.

Around 350,000 people have been killed due to violence in northern Nigeria as of the end of 2020, according to new UN estimates. Many of those killed were Christians.

Human rights advocates, when looking at Nigeria’s north and central regions, fear an accelerating disintegration of Nigeria’s society and institutions. We all should be concerned that, if current trends are not arrested, Nigeria may implode, with global economic ramifications. A new wave of Nigerian displacement and emigration would rival those associated with Libya, Syria, and Iraq.

Failure to recognize the religious dimensions in the present conflicts of Nigeria’s Middle Belt divorces us from the complex realities of concrete human life.

It is important to view Nigeria’s Middle Belt conflict in the context of Islamic extremism across the Sahel.