A US congressional hearing on Thursday heard that attacks on Christians in Nigeria have not eased in the year since Washington designated the country a Country of Particular Concern for religious freedom.
Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, led the session, titled “One Year Later: Assessing Nigeria’s Efforts to Protect Christians and Secure the Middle Belt.” It was his 14th hearing on the subject.
“A culture of denial”
In his opening statement, Rep. Smith accused the Nigerian government and the wider world of looking away while Fulani militants, Boko Haram and the Islamic State’s West Africa affiliate carried out killings and displacement across the country. He urged the US State Department to use every diplomatic tool to press for action and accountability.
He also read from the written testimony of Nina Shea, a US lawyer and religious freedom advocate. Citing figures from the charity Open Doors, she said Nigeria accounts for 72 percent of the world’s faith-related killings of Christians. Her testimony named armed Fulani militias in Benue, Plateau, Kaduna and Taraba states as the greatest threat, and said more than a million survivors of attacks now live in displacement camps.
The first panel of witnesses was expected to include two senior State Department officials: Frank Garcia, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, and Riley Barnes, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.
Nigeria’s position
Nigeria’s government has consistently rejected claims of a Christian genocide. It says there is no state policy of religious persecution and that armed groups attack both Christians and Muslims. Since the designation, the two countries have held talks through a US–Nigeria Joint Working Group, which met in Abuja in January and in Washington in August.
The hearing came days after a separate bill sponsored by Rep. Smith to reauthorise the US Commission on International Religious Freedom became law, according to his office.
Sources: Peoples Gazette, 13 November 2026; Office of Rep. Chris Smith, opening statement, 12 November 2026; Chronicle NG, 12 November 2026; First Daily News, 10 November 2026; Premium Times (government position).
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