The United States House of Representatives will on Thursday hold a congressional hearing to examine the Nigerian government’s efforts to protect Christians and address insecurity in the country’s Middle Belt region.
The hearing will be chaired by Republican lawmaker Chris Smith, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa.
Smith’s office announced the development in a statement published on his official website on Monday and cited by PUNCH Online on Tuesday.
Titled “One Year Later: Assessing Nigeria’s Efforts to Protect Christians and Secure the Middle Belt,” the hearing will examine religious violence perpetrated by extremist groups, the Nigerian government’s response and measures being taken to protect vulnerable communities.
According to the statement, the session will assess “the current state of religious violence perpetrated by radical Islamists, such as Boko Haram and Fulani terrorists, against Christians in Nigeria.”
It will also examine the Nigerian government’s efforts to curb persecution, bring perpetrators of atrocities to justice and protect Christian and non-radical Muslim communities.
Additionally, the lawmakers will consider measures the United States could take to ensure Nigerian officials address and prevent what the statement described as systemic violence against Christians and non-radical Muslims by Islamist extremists.
The hearing is scheduled to begin at 11 am local time at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC, and will be streamed live on YouTube.
The first panel will feature two United States State Department officials: Frank Garcia, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, and Riley Barnes, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labour.
The second panel will comprise Nina Shea, Senior Fellow and Director of the Centre for Religious Freedom at the Hudson Institute; Ryan Brown, Chief Executive Officer of Open Doors US; and Oge Onubogu, Director and Senior Fellow of the Africa Programme at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.
Smith’s office described the upcoming session as his 14th congressional hearing on the persecution of Christians in Nigeria.
The hearing comes amid growing scrutiny of Nigeria’s security situation by US lawmakers and the administration of President Donald Trump.
In November 2025, Trump redesignated Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern over alleged severe violations of religious freedom, following accusations that the Nigerian government had failed to adequately protect Christians from attacks.
Nigeria was first designated a Country of Particular Concern in December 2020 during Trump’s first administration.
However, the administration of former President Joe Biden removed the country from the list in November 2021, stating that Nigeria no longer met the criteria for the designation.
The designation is made under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 and applies to countries considered by the US government to have engaged in or tolerated particularly severe violations of religious freedom.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian government has consistently rejected descriptions of the country’s insecurity as primarily religious persecution.
The government has maintained that the security challenges are complex and multifaceted, involving terrorism, banditry, farmer-herder conflicts and other forms of criminal violence affecting both Christian and Muslim communities.
As part of a counterterrorism partnership between the two countries, the US military carried out strikes against Islamic State targets in northwestern Nigeria on December 25, 2025.
Trump said the operation was aimed at militants responsible for attacks on Christians.
Studies on Nigeria’s security challenges have, however, identified several underlying causes of violence, including Islamist insurgency, farmer-herder conflicts, banditry and other forms of criminal activity.
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