Christian campaigners have called on the Prime Minister to raise the issue of religious persecution with President Tinubu, as the pair met at Downing Street. 

They urged Sir Keir to make any economic deals conditional on security guarantees. 

President Bola Tinubu described his home country as being “challenged by terrorism," but stopped short of mentioning persecution against Christians. 

Churches and communities have been targeted by Islamist extremists, with Open Doors research finding almost 3,500 Christians having been killed for their faith last year.

Nigerian authorities maintain that all communities have been victims of attacks, and insist that the incidents in question are part of a wider security crisis. Speaking on the steps of Number 10, President Tinubu added that  "conflict from climate change” was another issue facing Nigeria. 

Religious persecution experts, political leaders and members of the Nigerian diaspora gathered in the Palace of Westminster on Thursday, for a dialogue event hosted by the International Organisation for Peace Building and Social Justice (PSJUK).

Attendees discussed the challenges to bringing about peace and prosperity, including a minimisation of the violence and a lack of political will to confront the motivations. 

Dr Richard Ikiebe, PSJUK president, told Premier Christian News that the Nigerian government “would rather focus on ‘optics’ and public relations.”

He urged Christians and the diaspora to speak out against the violence: “The jihadists and the people pushing the [minimisation] narrative are quite happy for us to do nothing, are quite happy for us to say nothing. The more we keep quiet, the harder they press.”

Ahead of the meeting, Dr Ikiebe said that the Prime Minister should be “reminding” President Tinubu that “if Nigeria wants investment, the borders of Nigeria have to be secured and the environment has to be secured” otherwise deals could “become useless overnight”.