$400,000 for LGBTQ+ Sensitivity Training for Nigerian Police Forces

Nigeria Has the Death Penalty for Homosexuality in 12 States. The Police Are the Enforcement Mechanism.

The State Department funded $400,000 for LGBTQ+ sensitivity training for Nigerian police forces. Nigeria’s Same-Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act of 2013, signed by President Goodluck Jonathan, criminalizes same-sex relationships with up to 14 years in prison in southern Nigerian states. In the twelve northern states operating under sharia law, homosexuality is punishable by death. Nigerian police forces have been documented by Human Rights Watch as active participants in extortion and violence against LGBTQ+ individuals — using the threat of arrest under the 2013 Act as a leverage tool.

The theory behind the program was that changing police attitudes — reducing extortion and violence even within an enforcement framework — would reduce the harm facing LGBTQ+ Nigerians without requiring a change in national law. This is a genuine harm-reduction argument. The problem is the enforcement environment: Nigerian police officers who receive American “sensitivity training” in the morning can arrest someone under the 2013 Act in the afternoon. The structural constraint is the law, not the training.