The US says it can impose visa restrictions on people concerned in spiritual persecution in Nigeria and different international locations.
The announcement was made by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a publish on X on Wednesday.
The brand new coverage is being launched as Washington responds to rising issues over violence and assaults towards Christian communities and different spiritual {groups} globally.
Rubio said that the US is taking decisive motion in response to the atrocities and violence towards Christians in Nigeria and around the globe.
“The US is taking decisive motion in response to the atrocities and violence towards Christians in Nigeria and around the globe. The State Division will prohibit U.S. visas for individuals who knowingly direct, authorize, fund, help, or perform violations of spiritual freedom. This visa coverage applies to Nigeria and different governments or people that persecute folks for his or her spiritual beliefs,” he said
The announcement displays Washington’s increasing use of visa sanctions as a diplomatic device, significantly in points involving human rights and safety. It additionally indicators rising worldwide consideration on the spiritual violence affecting a number of Nigerian states.
Nigeria has witnessed a steep rise in violent insecurity lately, pushed by a mixture of terrorism, banditry, communal battle, and focused religious-based assaults.
The dimensions and frequency of violent incidents, together with mass kidnappings, killings, and assaults on locations of worship and faculties, have drawn heightened home and worldwide consideration. Rising concern over violent deaths and the perceived focusing on of spiritual minorities helped immediate motion from exterior observers.
On November 1, 2025, President Trump formally designated Nigeria as a “Nation of Explicit Concern” over what he described as widespread killings of Christians and alleged systematic religious-based violence. This new designation reverses an earlier resolution in November 2021, United States Division of State eliminated Nigeria from its listing of spiritual freedom violators as a result of the situations had improved on the time.
The U.S. President emphasised that the killings, reported to account for 3,100 of the 4,476 Christian deaths recorded worldwide, required a direct U.S. response. Trump stated that past declarations, the U.S. authorities should take tangible steps to stop additional assaults and help persecuted spiritual {groups}
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in response to the present charge of insecurity, declared a nationwide safety emergency to deal with escalating violence, abductions, banditry and insurgency throughout a number of areas.
As a part of that push, the federal government has authorised a significant growth of safety personnel: it elevated recruitment for the Nigeria Police Pressure to usher in an extra 20,000 officers, elevating the deliberate whole pressure measurement to 50,000.
It additionally ordered the deployment of different safety companies, together with skilled forest guards below the Division of State Companies (DSS) to flush out terrorists and criminals working in forests and distant hideouts.
The federal government says it’s mobilising its full safety equipment to dismantle terrorist and felony networks, and pledged to actively pursue, neutralise, and eradicate terrorists, bandits, and felony components wherever they might be working.