Why Is Nigeria In The US’ CPC List?

Citizen is a column that explains how the government’s policies fucks citizens and how we can unfuck ourselves.

The United States government has designated Nigeria as a “country of particular concern” (CPC), for engaging in “systematic, ongoing, egregious, religious freedom violations”.

Under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, the US can add a country that it believes engages in religious intolerance or does not allow religious freedom.

Other countries on the “country of particular concern” list include Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.

Last year, Nigeria was added to the US State Department’s “Special Watch List (SWL)”, a list that is directly below the  “for governments that have engaged in or tolerated in severe violations of religious freedom.”

Nigeria is the first democracy to be labeled a CPC for “particularly severe” violations of religious freedom, a designation that opens it up to economic sanctions.

Special Watchlist (SWL)

In 2019, the US State department renewed the placement of Comoros, Russia, and Uzbekistan on a Special Watch List (SWL) for governments that have engaged in or tolerated “severe violations of religious freedom,” and added Cuba, Nicaragua, Nigeria, and Sudan to this list.

Nigeria has now been added to the “Countries of Particular Concern” (CPC) list, a list that is a bigger indicator of religious intolerance than the “Special Watchlist” (SWL) list.

We hope you’ve learned a thing or two about how to unfuck yourself when the Nigerian government moves mad. Check back every weekday for more Zikoko Citizen explainers.