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By Lizzy Chirkpi
The United States has signed a new $2.1 billion health cooperation agreement with Nigeria, a move that signals a fresh phase of engagement between Washington and Africa’s most populous country following US President Donald Trump’s recent criticism over attacks on Christians in Nigeria.
According to a spokesperson for the US State Department, the five-year bilateral health deal will channel American funding into efforts to combat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and polio, as well as improve maternal and child healthcare systems nationwide.
Under the agreement, Washington will provide nearly $2.1 billion, while Nigeria has pledged to increase its own national health spending by almost $3 billion over the same period.
The spokesperson further said the pact places “a strong emphasis on promoting Christian faith-based health care providers,” underscoring a religious dimension to the deal.
Last month, Trump caused global stir after he declared on social media that the United States was prepared to take military action in Nigeria to counter what he described as widespread killings of Christians in the country.
The US leader insisted that Christianity faces “an existential threat” in Nigeria and “numerous other countries,” stating that his administration is committed to confronting global persecution of Christians.
Washington has since reinstated Nigeria on the list of countries of ‘particular concern’ on religious freedom, and the US government has restricted visa issuance to Nigerian citizens.
The State Department spokesperson said the agreement was negotiated “in connection with reforms the Nigerian government has made to prioritize protecting Christian populations from violence.”
Nigeria split almost evenly between a predominantly Christian south and Muslim north—rejects claims of religious bias, insisting it does not tolerate persecution of any group.
The country has been battling jihadist insurgency in the northeast since 2009, a conflict the United Nations says has killed at least 40,000 people both Christians and Muslims and displaced nearly two million.
The US recently signed a similar health financing deal worth $2.5 billion with Kenya, marking a renewed trend in bilateral agreements following Trump’s move to shut down the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and reposition American foreign aid under his “America First” doctrine.
The Nigeria–US deal is being hailed by diplomatic observers as a strategic step toward reshaping relations between both nations under changing geopolitical conditions.