New Act Mandates Sanctions on Nigerian Officials Enforcing Blasphemy Laws, Requires Annual Human Rights Report

This new legislation, officially titled the Nigeria Religious Freedom Accountability Act of 2025, requires the U.S. government to take targeted action against specific Nigerian officials over religious freedom violations. Simply put, this bill is a mandate for sanctions, removing the President’s usual discretion when it comes to penalizing foreign officials involved in enforcing blasphemy laws or ignoring religiously motivated violence.

The Mandatory Sanctions List

Section 2 is the heart of the bill. It requires the President to impose sanctions, specifically those detailed under Executive Order 13818 (which targets serious human rights abuse and corruption), on individuals named in a special report. The Secretary of State must prepare this unclassified report within 90 days, and update it annually, listing Nigerian officials who fit certain criteria over the past decade.

Who makes the list? First, it includes federal officials or state governors who have actively pushed for, passed, or kept Nigerian blasphemy laws in place. Second, it targets leaders who “looked the other way” when non-state groups, like designated terrorist organizations, committed religious violence. Third, the list names judicial, law enforcement, or prison officials who actually enforced these blasphemy laws—meaning anyone who prosecuted, convicted, or imprisoned someone based on these codes (SEC. 2).

For the busy person, this means the U.S. is using its financial power to hit specific people in Nigeria where it hurts—likely freezing assets and blocking travel—who are directly responsible for prosecuting individuals based on religious speech or belief. It’s a highly targeted approach aimed at changing behavior at the top, not punishing the entire country.

Mandatory Designations: CPC and EPC

Section 3 locks in specific designations under existing U.S. international religious freedom laws. Currently, the Secretary of State has discretion regarding which countries are named for severe religious freedom violations. This bill removes that choice regarding Nigeria.

Specifically, the Secretary of State must now designate Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) and must designate Boko Haram and ISIS-West Africa as “Entities of Particular Concern” (EPC) in all required annual reports (SEC. 3). These designations trigger specific diplomatic and policy responses from the U.S. government.

There are very tight loopholes for waiving these designations. To avoid naming Nigeria as a CPC, the Secretary would have to certify that both Boko Haram and ISIS-West Africa are no longer operating in Nigeria and that the Nigerian government is no longer enforcing blasphemy laws. If you’re tracking global terrorism, you know those two conditions are highly unlikely to be met anytime soon, effectively making the CPC designation permanent until major policy changes occur in Nigeria.

What This Means in Practice

This Act is less about introducing new sanctions and more about making sure existing human rights sanctions tools are used consistently and mandatorily against this specific set of foreign officials. For the U.S. public, this means greater transparency, as the annual report identifying these officials and their actions must be unclassified and public (SEC. 2).

If you are an advocate or just someone who believes in international human rights, this bill provides a clear accountability mechanism. It ensures that officials who use their power to enforce laws that criminalize religious expression will face real consequences, rather than relying on the discretion of future administrations. The mandatory nature of the sanctions and designations is the key takeaway here—it forces the U.S. to take a hard line on this issue.