Washington DC - Washington announced Saturday that it has signed a deal to strengthen Nigeria's health system, a sign of improving ties with Africa's most populous nation after President Donald Trump denounced attacks against Christians there.

Under a five-year bilateral deal, Washington will contribute nearly $2.1 billion to help prevent HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, and polio, and to protect maternal and child health, a US State Department spokesman said.

Nigeria has committed to increasing its national health spending by nearly $3 billion over the five-year period, the spokesman said, adding that the bilateral deal contains "a strong emphasis on promoting Christian faith-based health care providers."

Trump last month stunned many by posting on social media that the US was ready to take military action in Nigeria to counter the killing of Christians.

Donald Trump Trump swears he "never" mentions how women look since entering politics: "I don't even look anymore!"

The US leader has said Christianity faces an "existential threat" in Nigeria and "numerous other countries," spotlighting what his administration says is global persecution of Christians.

Washington has placed Nigeria back on the list of countries of "particular concern" regarding religious freedom and has restricted the issuance of visas to Nigerians.

The deal signed Saturday "was negotiated in connection with reforms the Nigerian government has made to prioritize protecting Christian populations from violence," the State Department spokesman said.

Nigeria is divided roughly equally between the predominantly Christian south and the predominantly Muslim north.

Abuja maintains that it does not tolerate any religious persecution.

It has been battling a jihadist insurgency since 2009, and the conflict has killed at least 40,000 – both Christians and Muslims – and displaced around two million, according to the UN.

The US, in early December, signed a $2.5 billion health aid deal with Kenya, the first such bilateral agreement since Trump tore down USAID and sidelined NGOs.

Since returning to power, Trump has closed the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the world's largest aid agency, and ordered an overhaul of American foreign aid under the banner of "America First."

Nigerian authorities have also secured the release of 130 kidnapped schoolchildren taken by gunmen from a Catholic school in November, a presidential spokesman said Sunday, after 100 were freed earlier this month.

"Another 130 abducted Niger state pupils released, none left in captivity," Sunday Dare said in a post on X.