The US has signed a $2.1 billion health aid deal with Nigeria, with a strong emphasis on supporting Christian faith-based providers, following Trump’s warnings over Christian persecution.
WASHINGTON: The United States has signed a major health aid deal with Nigeria, with a stated focus on supporting Christian communities.
Under the five-year bilateral agreement, Washington will contribute nearly $2.1 billion to help prevent HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, and polio, and to protect maternal and child health.
A US State Department spokesman said the deal contains “a strong emphasis on promoting Christian faith-based health care providers.”
Nigeria has committed to increasing its national health spending by nearly $3 billion over the same five-year period.
The spokesman added that the agreement “was negotiated in connection with reforms the Nigerian government has made to prioritise protecting Christian populations from violence.”
This follows President Donald Trump’s recent social media post stating the US was ready to take military action in Nigeria to counter the killing of Christians.
Trump has said Christianity faces an “existential threat” in Nigeria and has placed the country back on a list of “particular concern” regarding religious freedom.
Nigeria is divided roughly equally between a predominantly Christian south and a predominantly Muslim north.
The government in Abuja maintains that it does not tolerate any religious persecution.
The country has been battling a jihadist insurgency since 2009, a conflict the UN says has killed at least 40,000 people and displaced around two million.
This deal follows a similar $2.5 billion health aid agreement signed with Kenya earlier this month.
Since returning to power, Trump has closed the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and ordered an overhaul of American foreign aid.
