The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Nazila Ghanea, has delivered one of the starkest international assessments yet of Nigeria’s security situation, warning that entrenched impunity and collapsing accountability systems are fuelling a self-perpetuating cycle of violence across the country.
Speaking at the end of an 11-day official visit, Ghanea said Nigeria’s insecurity has moved beyond episodic attacks to a structural crisis characterised by mass killings, repeated displacement of communities, destruction of livelihoods and widespread erosion of public trust in state institutions.
She said what emerged consistently from her engagements with over 200 stakeholders — including government officials, security agencies, victims, civil society organisations and religious leaders — was a country struggling to contain overlapping threats of terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, communal conflict and organised criminal networks.
According to her, the failure to ensure accountability for atrocities has created conditions in which violence is not only repeated but expands, leaving entire communities trapped in cycles of fear and survival.
“The absence of justice and accountability appears to be entrenching these cycles of violence and encouraging their spread,” she warned.
The UN envoy said victims across multiple regions described repeated attacks that destroyed entire villages, forced mass displacement and left survivors dependent on internally displaced persons’ camps with no clear path to return home.
She noted that many communities have suffered repeated assaults over the years, with some victims reporting displacement as many as six times, each time forced to rebuild their lives only to face renewed violence.
Ghanea also drew attention to disturbing accounts of armed groups allegedly imposing terms on rural communities, including arrangements in which residents surrender farmland and agricultural produce under coercion, deepening what she described as a breakdown of state protection in rural areas.
She warned that the scale and persistence of abductions — including kidnappings of children, clergy, traditional leaders, security personnel and political figures — has created a parallel economy of ransom and fear that further weakens state authority.
The Special Rapporteur said insecurity has also triggered the rise of vigilante groups, community defence networks and informal security structures, reflecting what she described as citizens’ growing loss of confidence in formal protection systems.
Ghanea further cautioned that the proliferation of arms and informal checkpoints risks blurring the line between community self-defence and criminal exploitation, warning that weak oversight could worsen insecurity.
Beyond violence, she raised concerns about structural issues affecting freedom of religion or belief, including the continued requirement in some administrative processes for citizens to declare their religion, saying such practices reinforce identity-based divisions and expose governance systems to political manipulation.
She also criticised the dominant framing of Nigeria as a rigid religious binary between a Muslim north and Christian south, describing it as an oversimplification that obscures the country’s internal diversity and fuels polarisation.
While acknowledging Nigeria’s constitutional guarantees of fundamental rights, Ghanea pointed to tensions arising from parallel legal and administrative systems in parts of the country, particularly around issues such as blasphemy, personal status laws and freedom of expression.
Despite her concerns, the UN envoy commended the resilience of affected communities, the efforts of civil society organisations and the work of interfaith initiatives aimed at promoting dialogue and coexistence.
She said Nigeria possesses the institutional capacity, human expertise and civic energy needed to reverse current trends, but stressed that urgent reforms are required to break what she described as the entrenched cycle of violence and impunity.
Ghanea confirmed that her full findings and recommendations will be submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council in March 2027.
