{"id":125169,"date":"2026-01-23T06:56:36","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T05:56:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=125169"},"modified":"2026-01-23T06:56:36","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T05:56:36","slug":"us-nigeria-hold-talks-to-curb-violence-against-christians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/us-nigeria-hold-talks-to-curb-violence-against-christians\/","title":{"rendered":"US, Nigeria Hold Talks to Curb Violence Against Christians"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">By Lizzy Chirkpi<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Fresh details have emerged from a high-level engagement between the United States and the Federal Government of Nigeria following Washington\u2019s designation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) over alleged breach of religious freedom.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The meeting, which marked the inaugural session of the US\u2013Nigeria Joint Working Group, was held in Abuja on Thursday, January 22, 2026, according to a joint statement released by both governments.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Working Group was constituted after US President Donald Trump formally designated Nigeria a CPC under the International Religious Freedom Act, citing concerns over persistent violence, particularly against Christian communities.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In the joint statement, both countries said the initiative is aimed at \u201creducing violence against vulnerable groups in Nigeria, particularly Christians, and creating a conducive atmosphere for all Nigerians to freely practice their faith unimpeded by terrorists, separatists, bandits, and criminal militias.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Nigeria\u2019s delegation to the talks was led by the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, and comprised representatives from 10 ministries and government agencies. The United States team was headed by the Under Secretary of State, Allison Hooker, alongside officials drawn from eight federal agencies.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Both sides engaged in what they described as strategic discussions focused on how enhanced US\u2013Nigeria cooperation could improve religious freedom protections and strengthen nationwide security.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The delegations also reaffirmed the long-standing bilateral relationship between Nigeria and the United States, noting that it remains \u201cgrounded in shared values of pluralism, respect for the rule of law, and sovereignty.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The US delegation acknowledged Nigeria\u2019s recent efforts to address insecurity, especially in the North-Central region, where attacks on farming communities and Christian populations have been recurring.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to the statement, both governments reiterated their \u201cstrong and unflinching commitment to upholding the principles of religious freedom\u201d and agreed on the importance of \u201cjoint, active, and sustained measures to promote and protect freedom of religion or belief for all, in line with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Participants at the meeting also emphasized the urgent need to protect civilians, \u201cparticularly members of vulnerable Christian communities,\u201d while ensuring that those responsible for acts of violence are brought to justice.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On security collaboration, the two countries agreed to deepen counter-terrorism cooperation through \u201coperational cooperation, access to technology, anti-money laundering measures, countering the financing of terrorism, and building law enforcement and investigative capacity.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The US delegation further commended Nigeria for what it termed \u201curgent actions to strengthen security for at-risk Christian communities and Nigerians of all faiths whose safety is threatened by violence and terrorism.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It was also agreed that the next session of the Joint Working Group would take place in the United States, with the date to be fixed through diplomatic channels.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">President Trump had, on October 31, designated Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern, citing allegations of widespread insecurity and what some advocacy organisations have described as a \u201cChristian genocide\u201d in parts of the country.<\/div>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Lizzy Chirkpi Fresh details have emerged from a high-level engagement between the United States and the Federal Government of Nigeria following Washington\u2019s designation of Nigeria as a Country of&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":114424,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>US, Nigeria Hold Talks to Curb Violence Against Christians - Pointblank News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/us-nigeria-hold-talks-to-curb-violence-against-christians\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US, Nigeria Hold Talks to Curb Violence Against Christians - Pointblank News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Lizzy Chirkpi Fresh details have emerged from a high-level engagement between the United States and the Federal Government of Nigeria following Washington\u2019s designation of Nigeria as a Country of&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/us-nigeria-hold-talks-to-curb-violence-against-christians\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pointblank News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-23T05:56:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/US-and-Nigeria-flag-768x540-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"540\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Our Reporter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Our Reporter\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/us-nigeria-hold-talks-to-curb-violence-against-christians\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/us-nigeria-hold-talks-to-curb-violence-against-christians\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Our Reporter\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c\"},\"headline\":\"US, Nigeria Hold Talks to Curb Violence Against Christians\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-23T05:56:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/us-nigeria-hold-talks-to-curb-violence-against-christians\/\"},\"wordCount\":490,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/us-nigeria-hold-talks-to-curb-violence-against-christians\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/US-and-Nigeria-flag-768x540-1.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/us-nigeria-hold-talks-to-curb-violence-against-christians\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/us-nigeria-hold-talks-to-curb-violence-against-christians\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/us-nigeria-hold-talks-to-curb-violence-against-christians\/\",\"name\":\"US, Nigeria Hold Talks to Curb Violence Against Christians - Pointblank News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/us-nigeria-hold-talks-to-curb-violence-against-christians\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/us-nigeria-hold-talks-to-curb-violence-against-christians\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/US-and-Nigeria-flag-768x540-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-23T05:56:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/us-nigeria-hold-talks-to-curb-violence-against-christians\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/us-nigeria-hold-talks-to-curb-violence-against-christians\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/us-nigeria-hold-talks-to-curb-violence-against-christians\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/US-and-Nigeria-flag-768x540-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/US-and-Nigeria-flag-768x540-1.jpg\",\"width\":768,\"height\":540},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/us-nigeria-hold-talks-to-curb-violence-against-christians\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"US, Nigeria Hold Talks to Curb Violence Against Christians\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/\",\"name\":\"Pointblank News\",\"description\":\"Just the news\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c\",\"name\":\"Our Reporter\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Our Reporter\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"US, Nigeria Hold Talks to Curb Violence Against Christians - Pointblank News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/us-nigeria-hold-talks-to-curb-violence-against-christians\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"US, Nigeria Hold Talks to Curb Violence Against Christians - Pointblank News","og_description":"By Lizzy Chirkpi Fresh details have emerged from a high-level engagement between the United States and the Federal Government of Nigeria following Washington\u2019s designation of Nigeria as a Country of&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/us-nigeria-hold-talks-to-curb-violence-against-christians\/","og_site_name":"Pointblank News","article_published_time":"2026-01-23T05:56:36+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":540,"url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/US-and-Nigeria-flag-768x540-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Our Reporter","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Our Reporter","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/us-nigeria-hold-talks-to-curb-violence-against-christians\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/us-nigeria-hold-talks-to-curb-violence-against-christians\/"},"author":{"name":"Our Reporter","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c"},"headline":"US, Nigeria Hold Talks to Curb Violence Against Christians","datePublished":"2026-01-23T05:56:36+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/us-nigeria-hold-talks-to-curb-violence-against-christians\/"},"wordCount":490,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/us-nigeria-hold-talks-to-curb-violence-against-christians\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/US-and-Nigeria-flag-768x540-1.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/us-nigeria-hold-talks-to-curb-violence-against-christians\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/us-nigeria-hold-talks-to-curb-violence-against-christians\/","url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/us-nigeria-hold-talks-to-curb-violence-against-christians\/","name":"US, Nigeria Hold Talks to Curb Violence Against Christians - Pointblank News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/us-nigeria-hold-talks-to-curb-violence-against-christians\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/us-nigeria-hold-talks-to-curb-violence-against-christians\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/US-and-Nigeria-flag-768x540-1.jpg","datePublished":"2026-01-23T05:56:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/us-nigeria-hold-talks-to-curb-violence-against-christians\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/us-nigeria-hold-talks-to-curb-violence-against-christians\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/us-nigeria-hold-talks-to-curb-violence-against-christians\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/US-and-Nigeria-flag-768x540-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/US-and-Nigeria-flag-768x540-1.jpg","width":768,"height":540},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/us-nigeria-hold-talks-to-curb-violence-against-christians\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"US, Nigeria Hold Talks to Curb Violence Against Christians"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/","name":"Pointblank News","description":"Just the news","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c","name":"Our Reporter","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Our Reporter"},"url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125169"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":125170,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125169\/revisions\/125170"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}