President Trump’s threat to use military force to end the onslaught against Nigerian Christians by Muslim radicals is yet another sign of Trump 2.0’s enormous influence. Boko Haram and other Islamist terrorists have waged a brutal war against defenceless people for many years, and Western media outlets have long chosen to ignore it.
One Truth Social post was enough to end a conspiracy of silence. Subsequent warnings of American brute force have made this a global story, and now an adviser to the Nigerian President Bola Tinubu is cautiously welcoming possible US assistance in crushing the terrorists.
Trump is right to raise his voice. He is also right to add Nigeria to the list of ‘Countries of Particular Concern’ which have engaged in or tolerated “particularly severe violations of religious freedom.”
If him speaking loudly while brandishing a Tomahawk results in greater protection for Nigerian Christians, it will be a joyous day.
Nigeria is just one battlefield in the global war against Christians, but it is the most important one.
Data from the non-denominational Open Doors NGO shows that 82% of the almost 5,000 Christians martyred in 2023 were Nigerians.
Nigeria is the most populous African nation by far, and by the end of the century, there could be more than 700 million people living there.
Nigeria has what it takes to be the major African power in a world where that continent has assumed a much greater prominence and prosperity.
As the multi-tribal nation is fairly evenly split between the Islamic north and the Christian south, the Islamist campaign is partly focused on achieving hegemony in the long-run.
Trump’s message to the Nigerian government was simple: act now, or I will act.
What should Ireland’s response be?
Our connection to Nigeria is much stronger than some might think. The Catholic Church in Nigeria (made up of perhaps 35 million faithful) is to a large extent an Irish creation.
The historic role played by the thousands of Irish missionaries like the legendary Tipperary-born Bishop Joseph Shanahan is shown in the fact that Nigeria’s patron saint remains St. Patrick.
With Nigerian seminaries overflowing, we are now seeing the same process occurring in reverse as growing numbers of Nigerian priests come to minister here. In the diocese of Limerick alone, there are now seven Nigerian priests working.
Protestant Irish missionaries were also important in Africa, and the growth of many of the liveliest Protestant churches in Ireland has been aided by Nigerian arrivals.
Politics links us too. Between 1967-1970, the Biafran War (in which a southern province unsuccessfully sought to gain its independence) and the humanitarian efforts of Irish priests ministering there captured the imagination of the Irish public. This resulted in the establishment of Concern, led at its outset by Fr. Raymond Kennedy, who had been based there.
Ireland still contributes significantly to Nigeria as part of our Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) programme. According to the Irish Aid Annual Report 2024, that humanitarian support involves funding for solar energy projects, agricultural training, educational efforts focused on girls as well as the provision of education and healthcare services to people with special needs.
The government also funds the Roger Casement Fellowship in Human Rights which allows Nigerian candidates to pursue master’s studies in human rights programmes in Irish universities.
In today’s environment, the most important connection between the two countries is the Nigerian community based here.
A detailed breakdown of the religious backgrounds of non-nationals contained within Census 2011 showed that Ireland’s 20,000 Nigerians were unrepresentative of their country as a whole, being more than 70% Christian.
For reasons unknown, the Central Statistics Office did not replicate this detailed religious breakdown in Census 2022, but it is likely that this numerically stable community remains predominantly Christianity – yet another legacy of the Irish missionary tradition, and one which should make assimilation efforts easier in the coming years.
Clearly, Ireland is linked historically and currently to the Christians of Nigeria, and yet recent governments have been shockingly indifferent to their plight.
Michael D. Higgins’s response to a massacre of 40 Catholics who were attending Mass in Owo in June 2022 – a massacre which he linked to climate change – represented an all-time low in his disgraceful presidency, one made all the worse by the fact that the church in question was built by Irish missionaries.
His profound ignorance was not unique though. Anti-Christian Irish politicians cannot register what is happening when a group of murderous Islamic terrorists enter a church and start to open fire and detonate explosives. They do not understand the rationale of the killers, nor the faith of those in the pews, and worst of all, they do not even attempt to understand.
Donald Trump perhaps does understand, and has done the Nigerian Church a great service for which he will surely one day be rewarded.
Ireland should act too. At EU level, the Irish government should take a momentary break from its Palestine obsession and consider possible measures to encourage the Nigerian government to change its behaviour.
Nigeria exports €20 billion to the EU each year – if the Nigerian security forces are not willing or able to combat Boko Haram effectively, there is no reason why trade restrictions should not be considered.
On a bilateral basis, the Irish government should let its Nigerian counterparts know that if the situation does not improve measurably, development assistance could be cut.
A balance must be struck here. We should be reluctant to decrease charitable aid to vulnerable Nigerian people on account of the failures of Nigerian politicians.
Rather than ending ODA support immediately or entirely, it would be better to blacklist any Nigerian governmental bodies and to honour the missionary legacy (and the victims of recent persecution) by channeling all future funding through missionary organisations still active on the ground.
Given the amount of international goodwill which modern Ireland enjoys due to the work of generations of Irish missionaries, it is disgraceful that only €15 million of the €810 million ODA allocation in 2024 went to Misean Cara projects.
There could be no better way to honour the thousands of departed Irish men and women who gave their Faith to Nigeria than by aiding the Nigerians who are today giving their lives for the Faith.