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In Nigeria, a Christian is killed for their faith every two hours; that’s nearly 13 Christians a day and 372 Christians a month.
They’re sobering statistics—each number is a man, woman, father, mother, son or daughter who die violently Just because they follow Jesus.
Research for the 2022 World Watch List reveals that in 2021, more Christians were murdered for their faith in Nigeria than in any other country. Last year, Nigeria accounted for nearly 80% of Christian deaths worldwide, with more than 4,650 believers killed. Sadly, those are just those we know about. The death toll once again makes Nigeria the world’s most violent place for Christians—for the second consecutive year.
The numbers paint a horrific picture of what’s happening in Nigeria.
Today, persecution in Nigeria is—simply put—brutally violent, as Islamic extremist groups work to carry out their agenda to Islamize the world’s seventh-largest country. Leveraging the country’s political instability and poor economy, these groups have turned Nigeria and the surrounding Sahel region (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Niger) into an epicenter for jihadist violence.
“Generally speaking, there is no single part of Africa that is spared of Islamist insurgency,” says Illia, Open Doors analyst for Nigeria. “The phenomenon—the issue of radicalism—is now expanding and gaining territories. Radical preaching and teaching continue to lead to hostility towards religious minorities, such as Christians.”
In Nigeria, people are living their lives under constant threat of attack from several main groups: Boko Haram, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), Fulani militants and criminal gangs who kidnap and murder for ransom with few consequences.
Nigerian Christians risk their lives to gather for worship.
In 2015, Pastor Andrew’s village was attacked by the Islamic extremist militant group, Boko Haram. The group destroyed Pastor Andrew’s church and set fire to the entire village. Villagers fled for their lives and went running into the brush to survive. In the panic, some children were separated from their parents and left on their own to care for themselves.
“We saw how the fire consumed the whole village,” Pastor Andrew said. “The persecution was so much that I never imagined we would come together again to worship in the church.”
Pastor Andrew’s village is one of many Boko Haram has attacked since it was founded in 2002. Despite attempts and claims by the Nigerian government to bring down Boko Haram, the extremist group has long been one of the world’s most infamous terrorist groups. The group exploded onto the scene in 2009 during a failed uprising in northern Nigeria and in 2014 generated world attention when they kidnapped more than 300 girls from a finishing school in Chibok.
Boko Haram doesn’t hesitate to specifically target Christians. They see Christianity as a great evil with ties to the West and frequently target churches, often attacking villages where Christians are the majority religious group. To them, Christians are outsiders to be killed.
“The Christians realized that the attacks were against their faith,” Pastor Andrew said. “But after losing everything, they realized God is all you need.”
