Nigeria (North) featured among the next twenty countries rated as having Severe Limitations. Also among this group are such countries as China, India and Libya, apart from a host of former Soviet republics. The reported also listed Nigeria (North) among countries where the status of religious freedom for Christians deteriorated in 2008. Others in this category are, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan, Somalia, Pakistan, Iraq, Mauritania, Algeria, India, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Kazakhstan.
In a lot of senses, it is inevitable that our nation, Nigeria, will always be in the news, internationally. The Bible says that a nation built on a hill cannot be hidden. And so are we. We may not be exacted seated on some mountain, but think about our land mass, our population, the fact of being probably one of the top five best endowed countries in the world in terms of mineral and natural resources and our great leadership potentials already manifesting in the international arena.
That explains why we are always in the news, unfortunately though, for the wrong reasons. From advance fee fraud to drug trafficking to human trafficking to official corruption, the name of Nigeria is notoriously high on league tables.
A couple of weeks ago, we were among those invited to the UN to defend our human rights record. Allegations of torture as a weapon of the police during investigation of crimes, unlawful detentions and many other violations of civil liberties were leveled against a nation that has returned to civil rule for nearly ten years. It would be interesting to hear what official had to say in our defence.
It is however to a league table with a difference that I want to draw all our attentions to today. It is known as the Open Doors World Watch List, and it lists countries where Christians suffer the greatest persecution.
Now there are two significant things about this report. One, Nigeria did not make the Top Ten, thankfully. In fact, we didn't make the Top Twenty either. We even missed the Top 25, ranking 26 among the 50 countries cited in the report. The second noteworthy thing about the report is that our nation had to be listed as Nigeria (North), obviously to stress the fact of relative religious freedom in the south of the country.
The report compiled by Santa Ana, California, USA-based Open Doors Ministry which touts itself as "serving persecuted Christians worldwide" graded countries into five, namely, those with Severe Persecution cases; those which manifest in Oppression; countries where there are Severe Limitations; some with Some limitations and others which simply have Some Problems.
Explaining its rating methodology, Open Doors said the World Watch List (WWL) "is compiled from a specially-designed questionnaire of 50 questions covering various aspects of religious freedom. A point value is assigned depending on how each question is answered. The total number of points per country determines its position on the WWL."
Open Doors International continues, in its preamble to this year's report: "The questions differentiate between the legal, official status of Christians (e.g. Does the constitution and/or national laws provide for freedom of religion?; Are individuals allowed to convert to Christianity by law?) and the actual situation of individual Christians (Are Christians being killed because of their faith?; Are Christians being sentenced to jail, labor camp or sent to a psychiatric hospital because of their faith?). Attention is paid to the role of the church in society (Do Christians have the freedom to print and distribute Christian literature?; Are Christian publications censured/prohibited in this country?) and to factors that may obstruct the freedom of religion in a country (Are Christian meeting places and/or Christian homes attacked because of anti-Christian motives?)."
North Korea rates highest in the 2009 report retaining its 2008 position as the world's worst persecutor of followers of Jesus Christ. It's the only case of Severe Persecution on the list. Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan, Somalia, Maldives and Yemen in that order also retained their 2008 second to seventh in the 2009 report. Theirs are the six cases of Oppression listed.
Nigeria (North) featured among the next twenty countries rated as having Severe Limitations. Also among this group are such countries as China, India and Libya, apart from a host of former Soviet republics. The reported also listed Nigeria (North) among countries where the status of religious freedom for Christians deteriorated in 2008. Others in this category are, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan, Somalia, Pakistan, Iraq, Mauritania, Algeria, India, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Kazakhstan.
Substantiating its ranking of Nigeria (North), the Report said in part: "Twelve northern Nigerian states have imposed Islamic law in the past eight years. Repeated outbreaks of religious violence have erupted ever since, claiming thousands of lives. Muslims accusing Christians of blasphemy led to violence in the Sharia states of Bauchi and Kano in February…" Figures of the dead, the injured, the displaced and of worship facilities destroyed were freely used in the report, which included those from the mayhem that followed the local government elections in Jos, Plateau state in November. There was also reported cases of girls said to have been abducted in Bauchi, Katsina, Kano, Niger and Yobe states allegedly with the aim of Islamizing them.
We may sneer at this categorization of Nigeria; indeed we might even call to question the veracity of the figures since crisis arithmetic has never really been a national forte. But it should be food for thought to our leaders that, of the last 23 countries listed under the category of Some Limitations; about half of them are officially Islamic States. We must never forget that this nation is too important to be ignored by anyone and therefore the days of playing the ostrich are over. The investigations going on about the last Jos crisis must be thorough and their reports honestly implemented. That is the way to get out of league tables like the World Watch List
Indeed the World watches.
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