US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has pressed Nigeria to intensify efforts to halt escalating violence against Christians, following a meeting with Nigeria’s National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, at the Pentagon on Thursday.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement on Friday that Hegseth urged Abuja to take “urgent and enduring action” to address the situation, adding that the United States is prepared to work with Nigeria “to deter and degrade terrorists that threaten the United States.”
The discussion follows recent remarks by US President Donald Trump, who warned that Christianity faced “an existential threat” in Nigeria. Trump cautioned that failure by Nigerian authorities to stop the killings could trigger a swift US military response.
Nigeria, a nation of about 230 million people, remains sharply divided along religious lines, with a mostly Christian south and a predominantly Muslim north. The country continues to grapple with several overlapping conflicts, including jihadist insurgencies that have claimed lives across religious lines.
Tensions also persist between largely Muslim herders and predominantly Christian farming communities, particularly in the northcentral region, where disputes over land and water resources often turn violent. Experts, however, insist that these clashes are driven more by competition for shrinking resources — worsened by climate change and population pressures — than by religion.
