H.R. 5808 — Nigeria Religious Freedom Accountability Act of 2025

This section directs the President to impose blocking sanctions pursuant to Executive Order No. 13818 (i.e., sanctions blocking the property and interests in property of persons involved in serious human rights abuse or corruption) on Nigerian persons identified in a State Department report. Not later than 90 days after enactment, and annually thereafter, the Secretary of State must submit the report to the appropriate congressional committees identifying Nigerian federal officials or state governors who have (1) promoted, enacted, or maintained blasphemy laws or (2) tolerated violence by non-state actors invoking religious justifications, including by designated foreign terrorist organizations or specially designated global terrorists; or judges, magistrates, prison officials, or other judicial or law enforcement authorities who have enforced blasphemy laws, during the period beginning 10 years before enactment (for the first report) or since the prior report (for subsequent reports). The report must be unclassified but may include a classified annex.

This section requires the Secretary of State, in reports under section 402(b)(1)(A) of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (IRFA) and concurrent reviews under section 301(a) of the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act of 2016, to designate (1) the Federal Republic of Nigeria as a country of particular concern (CPC) and (2) Boko Haram and ISIS-West Africa as entities of particular concern (EPC) for engaging in or tolerating systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom. (As background, CPCs and EPCs under IRFA identify governments and non-state actors, respectively, responsible for particularly severe violations of religious freedom, which may trigger sanctions or other actions.) It authorizes waivers of these designations upon certifications to congressional committees, including that neither listed entity is operating in Nigeria and that Nigerian federal and state governments are not enforcing blasphemy laws (for the CPC waiver) or that a specific entity is not operating (for an EPC waiver). This section also makes a technical correction in IRFA by striking "freedom religion" and inserting "religious freedom".

This section defines terms used in the Act, including (1) appropriate congressional committees (i.e., the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs); (2) Boko Haram (i.e., Jama’tu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad); (3) ISIS-West Africa (i.e., the Islamic State West Africa Province); (4) Nigerian blasphemy laws (i.e., provisions in Nigeria’s criminal, penal, or Shari’a codes that criminalize expression, behavior, or belief perceived as insulting religion); and (5) person (i.e., an individual or entity).