The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), based in Onitsha, has sounded the alarm regarding the rising menace of Islamic jihadism, which poses a significant threat to approximately 750 million Christians across Africa.
In a detailed report authored by its Board of Trustees Chairman, Emeka Umeagbalasi, along with other researchers, the organization has asserted that violence directed at Christians throughout the continent remains a persistent issue, with Nigeria highlighted as a major focal point.
The report states that Africa's Christian demographic, which comprises around half of the continent's total population of 1.5 billion, faces dangers from an estimated 40 to 50 Islamic extremist factions active in Africa, the Middle East, and beyond.
It is alleged within the report that some of these militant groups receive financial backing from external patrons as well as radical networks; however, the organization did not furnish independent verification of these claims.
Among the extremist groups mentioned are ISIS-affiliated factions like the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Boko Haram, Ansaru, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awatti (JAS), Jamaa’at Nusrat al-Islam (JNIM), the Islamic State in Greater Sahara, Islamic State Sahel Province, and the Al-Qaeda faction in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), among others.
Intersociety further contends that Nigeria is currently home to at least 22 terror groups, making it the country with the highest concentration of such organizations in Africa.
The report indicates that from December 2024 to February 2026, Nigeria experienced numerous assaults on Christian communities, resulting in thousands of fatalities and kidnappings, in addition to the destruction or closure of hundreds of churches and places of worship.
The organisation asserts that its findings are based on data collected, scrutinized, and archived over time.
It also traced Christianity's expansion in Africa from approximately 10 million followers in the early 20th century to an estimated 750 million in 2025, cautioning that if the trend of extremist violence is not addressed, it could reverse this growth in the decades to come.
A call for prompt and coordinated action has been made to prevent the further escalation of violence, with a warning that ongoing insecurity could have enduring demographic and social ramifications for the continent.
Security experts have long pinpointed extremist violence as a major challenge in various regions of Africa, particularly in the Sahel and Lake Chad areas, although statistics and forecasts can vary from one source to another.
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