Nigeria lost 8,279 of its citizens as well as residents in 2020 to insecurity, largely due to the activities of violent Islamist groups in Northern Nigeria.
The insecurity challenges in Africa’s most populous country has not only resulted in the loss of lives but it also hampered its economic growth, especially as the country battles with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
This was gathered from a recently released report that focuses on religious freedom violations committed by violent Islamist groups in northern Nigeria as compiled by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), an independent, bipartisan federal government entity established by the U.S. Congress to monitor, analyse, and report on threats to religious freedom abroad.
Among the country’s 36 states, Borno which is the hotspot of the crisis lost 3005 lives while Kaduna lost 1026, Katsina 876, Zamfara and Niger lost 845 and 236 lives, respectively.
According to the report, no less than 37,500 deaths have occurred since 2011 due to the activities of Boko Haram and other violent groups.
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While many Nigerians have pleaded for the government to address the incessant killings, not much has been done. And as a result country’s economy is taking the hit. The country which has the largest economy in Africa is also being regarded as one that as unsafe, a perception that is scaring prospective investors away.
“The violent Islamist groups based in northern Nigeria remain some of the deadliest and most formidable jihadist groups operating in the world today and there is a reasonable basis to believe that these groups have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity, ” the report said.
According to the 2020 report by the USCIRF, the US Department of State-designate Boko Haram as an Entity of Particular Concern (EPC) under the International Religious Freedom Act for engaging in or tolerating systematic, on-going, and egregious violations of religious freedom.
