As UK Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief, I was pleased to secure an adjournment debate on Tuesday in parliament.

Alongside my fellow MPs, I was able to speak out in support of Christians in Nigeria, as they continue to face brutal violence and persecution because of their faith.

Recent events have thrown a spotlight on Nigeria in general, and on persecution on the basis of religion or belief, in particular.

The scale of the challenge is clear: more Christians are killed in Nigeria for being Christians each year than all other countries combined.

Nigeria has a religious persecution problem. Religious violence is persistent and entrenched, with 3,000 Christians killed for their faith in the last year alone, and many minority faiths restricted by local law codes.

Persecution in Nigeria

Fifteen years ago I spent some time in Nigeria and it was clear even then that persecution was a serious problem.

I remember sitting in a hotel room in Abuja and hearing directly from a man whose wife had been brutally murdered – burned to death – by a mob in Northern Nigeria, purely because she was a Christian.

The FoRB crisis in Nigeria is persistent and entrenched, with violence in the North and the middle belt a way of life for Christians, Hausa Muslims, those of traditional belief systems and humanists. Meanwhile some Federal State legal systems have been manipulated by politicians and other public officials in order to impose so-called blasphemy and apostasy ‘offences’, despite Section 38 of the Nigerian constitution guaranteeing Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Conscience.

The future of religious freedom in Nigeria

A plural Nigeria rooted in the common good, and in which 250 million people have genuine freedom to reason, question, and believe is a blessing to Nigeria itself, to Africa and to the world.

Conversely, every Christian kidnapped, every mosque bombed, every atheist imprisoned risks the continuation of the cycle of ethno-religious conflict, and a diminishing of all that Nigeria can be.

No-one wants this, and I am pleased that the UK Government is serious about FoRB in Nigeria.

I also am committed to working with the Government in every way possible to support a better way forward.

This is an issue that needed attention years ago.  I am glad we are giving it the attention it deserves now.