The United States yesterday escalated pressure on Nigeria as Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced looming visa restrictions for officials involved in religious freedom violations.
This came as a Washington lobbyist also called for Nigeria to be treated like Venezuela, stripping it of sovereign respect.
In reaction to what he called injustices and violence against Christians in Nigeria and other parts of the world, Rubio stated that the United States is acting decisively.
The U.S. Department of State would limit visas for people who “knowingly direct, authorise, fund, support, or carry out violations of religious freedom,” according to a statement made by Rubio on X.
The statement said: “A new policy under Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act will allow the State Department to restrict visa issuance to individuals who have directed, authorised, significantly supported, participated in, or carried out violations of religious freedom and, where appropriate, their immediate family members.
“As President Trump made clear, the ‘United States cannot stand by while such atrocities are happening in Nigeria, and numerous other countries.’ This policy will apply to Nigeria and any other governments or individuals engaged in violations of religious freedom.”
According to the statement, “Nigeria and any other governments or individuals engaged in violations of religious freedom” may be subject to the visa restrictions.
The announcement came after US House Republicans highlighted the increase in religious violence in Nigeria during a briefing on Tuesday.
President Donald Trump ordered the House Appropriations Committee to look into what he called the nation’s “slaughter of Christians” on October 31.
Members of the House Foreign Affairs and Appropriations Committees, along with religious freedom specialists, attended the briefing, which was chaired by Mario Díaz-Balart, the National Security Subcommittee Chairman and Vice Chair of the House Appropriations Committee.
Representatives Robert Aderholt, Riley Moore, Brian Mast, Chris Smith, Vicky Hartzler, the chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, Sean Nelson of Alliance Defending Freedom International, and Dr. Ebenezer Obadare of the Council on Foreign Relations were among the attendees.
Nigeria’s delegation to the new US-Nigeria Joint Working Group, which was established to carry out security agreements from high-level negotiations in Washington under the direction of National Security Advisor Nuhu Ribadu, was recently approved by President Bola Tinubu.
The action comes after mounting worries about terrorism, banditry, and targeted attacks on Christians in Nigeria, which led to heightened US surveillance and cautions regarding the safety of vulnerable religious communities.
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