By Sola Adebawo
Last week, 166 Christians abducted in Kurmin Wali, Kaduna State, were released.
It should have been uncomplicated good news. Families reunited. Trauma survived. Lives spared.
But almost simultaneously, more than 200 Nigerians were killed in coordinated attacks across Kwara, Katsina and Benue States. In Kwara alone, armed men reportedly operated for nearly 22 hours, leaving behind burned homes, abducted residents and mass graves.
Relief and horror now coexist in the same week.
Nigeria has entered a season where good news feels temporary and violence feels structural. And the world is not paying enough attention.
Violence Is Expanding
For years, insecurity was framed as a northern problem. Boko Haram in the North East. Banditry in the North West. Farmer–herder clashes in the Middle Belt.
That framing no longer holds.
The reported attacks in Kwara State signal geographic expansion into areas once considered relatively insulated. When violence spreads geographically, it raises questions about containment capacity.
Nigeria is not a peripheral country. It is Africa’s most populous nation and a strategic anchor in West Africa. When insecurity deepens here, the region feels it.
The Religious Dimension We Cannot Ignore
According to the 2026 World Watch List by Open Doors, 4,849 Christians were killed in Nigeria in 2025, representing 72 percent of the global total of Christians killed for their faith. Christian Solidarity Worldwide has raised concerns about what it describes as slow and inadequate security responses in several incidents.
At the same time, the violence is not confined to one religious group. In Kwara, many victims were Muslim. In Benue, communities have faced repeated militia attacks. In Katsina, villages have been razed.
Nigeria’s crisis is layered. Jihadist extremism, criminal banditry, ethno-economic tensions and weak local security architecture intersect. Faith often becomes both target and fault line.
The international community tends to avoid religious framing because it feels politically charged. But refusing to acknowledge patterns does not make them disappear. If communities are being targeted because of identity, that reality must be addressed honestly and responsibly.
The Security Gap
Perhaps most troubling are reports of delayed security responses. In some cases, communities alerted authorities while attacks were ongoing. Assailants operated for hours.
Citizens are less concerned with institutional explanations than with protection.
The social contract rests on one promise: the state will safeguard life. When that promise weakens, trust erodes. Communities form vigilante groups. Migration accelerates. Economic productivity declines.
Security is not a side issue. It underpins every conversation about economic reform, foreign investment and national development.
Economic ambitions become harder to realize while insecurity persists.
Authorities continue to invest in security reforms, yet recent events suggest more urgent coordination is required. Many security personnel continue to serve under difficult and dangerous conditions. Strengthening security will require sustained collaboration between federal, state and international partners.
The Hidden National Cost
Behind every statistic is a disrupted household economy. A child withdrawn from school. A farm abandoned. A market that will not reopen.
In agrarian states, insecurity directly affects food production. When farmers flee, supply chains shrink. Food prices rise nationally. Urban consumers feel it months later without always tracing it back to rural violence.
Displacement on this scale, now affecting millions, also has regional implications. Armed groups exploit porous borders. Weapons and ideology travel.
This is not merely Nigeria’s internal affair.
Why the World Must Care
There are four clear reasons global actors should pay urgent attention.
First, scale. Instability in Nigeria reverberates across West Africa.
Second, precedent. Expansion of extremist activity into new regions signals dangerous momentum.
Third, humanitarian obligation. When thousands are killed and displaced, including on grounds of religious identity, silence undermines international commitments to protect civilian life.
Fourth, strategic interest. Nigeria has strengthened military cooperation with international partners, particularly in training and intelligence sharing. Those partnerships must translate into measurable improvements in civilian protection.
Symbolic engagement is not enough.
A Moral Test
The release of 166 hostages in Kaduna is worth celebrating. But it does not erase the reality of an expanding security crisis.
Leadership is tested in sustained threat, not in calm.
How can Nigeria ensure that mass casualty events never become normalized? How can the international community resist selective attention?
Nigeria’s violence is complex. It does not fit neatly into global headlines. But complexity is not an excuse for indifference.
When over 200 people can be killed in coordinated attacks in a single week and the world barely pauses, something has shifted in our collective conscience.
Nigeria matters. Its stability matters. Its people matter.
The world must pay attention. Now.
Sola Adebawo is an accomplished energy executive and public affairs leader with extensive experience in the oil and gas industry. He has led Government, Joint Venture, and External Relations strategy, shaping policy engagement and strengthening stakeholder alignment across public, regulatory, and commercial institutions. An author, scholar, and ordained minister, he writes on social, economic, and cultural issues, strategic communication, and principled leadership.