Nigeria has rejected the designation of Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” by the U.S over alleged violated religious freedom.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris Malagi, revealed this in Abuja on Wednesday, adding that the security situation in the country was not targeted at a particular ethnic or religious minority.
The Minister accused some influencers who engage in criminal activities of misinformation on Nigeria’s security situation.
Malagi said the challenge of accessing some of the areas affected by insecurity makes it hard for security agencies to ward off such attacks.
The Minister said “We can say that, for example, the Nigerian government has been able to have a correlation between some of these lobbies operating especially in the United States of America and the activities here.”
“We have seen, and it’s a matter of public record, if you go to the records of the United States, there is what is called the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Some of the influencers of these criminal activities have direct relationship with lobbies in the U.S. who have direct relationship with some of the people who are shouting about this issue outside this country. It is a matter of public record.
“Sometimes you hear these arguments about the minorities being attacked. The policing system and the security agencies will not in any way, because someone is in the minority, say he’s not going to be provided security or he’s not going to be protected by the security agencies. Nigerian security is formed in such a way that they should be able to respond to any threat wherever it may be, whichever community that they belong to.
“But of course, sometimes access to some of the infrastructure leading to some of these communities make it sometimes a bit difficult to reach there on time or when this crime is committed. And the government is looking seriously into that to improve on that. And that is why there is massive investment in the infrastructure you see going around the country to also make it easy and smooth for the security agencies to operate.”
According to him, the government was working to bring back community policing to complement the efforts of the Nigerian security agencies.
He said the lack of appointment of ambassadors was responsible to the President Donald Trump’s insistence on Christian genocide in the country, adding that the federal government has a cordial relation with the US.
“We know that ambassadors play a great role in enhancing a country’s image wherever they are,” the Minister said, adding that “but we don’t want to say it is because there is the absence of ambassadors because the Nigerian government has been relating with the American counterparts and other nations to ensure that there is greater collaboration. But let me also add that the president is working hard on this ambassador matter.”
