Nearly 17,000 Christians lost their lives because of violence in Nigeria between 2019 and 2023, a major study has reported. 

The Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa (ORFA) said that over half the deaths (55%) were at the hands of radicalized Muslim Fulani herdsmen. 

"Islamist extremists enjoy relative freedom to carry out atrocities against civilians in large regions of Nigeria," ORFA said. 

The study recorded a total of nearly 10,000 attacks and 56,000 fatalities, of which over 30,000 were civilians. The number of Christian victims (16,769) more than doubled the number of Muslim fatalities (6,235).

"In states where attacks occur, proportional loss to Christian communities is exceptionally high. In terms of state populations, 6.5 times as many Christians are being murdered as Muslims," said ORFA. 

Much of the violence is concentrated in Nigeria's North Central Zone and Southern Kaduna. Yet there is "markedly little security engagement at the scene of attacks". 

"Millions of people are left undefended," said senior ORFA analysit Frans Vierhout. "For years, we've heard of calls for help being ignored, as terrorists attack vulnerable communities. Now the data tells its own story."

It is not only killings, though, as 21,000 abductions were also recorded during the four-year period of the study and Christians are 1.4 times more likely to be abducted than Muslims.

ORFA partner and analyst, Rev Dr Gideon Para-Mallam, said that Christians are being targeted by the Fulani Ethnic Militia (FEM), although Muslims "also suffer severely at their hands". 

"Kidnappers work to Islamist goals. Where young women are kidnapped, tortured and sexually violated, hope for normal married life, and family, may vanish," he said. 

The scale of the violence has left a staggering 3.3 million Nigerians displaced from their homes and forced to live in makeshift camps. 

ORFA called on the international community to heed the findings and "do more to fully understand the scale of the challenge to Nigeria".