Chris Smith will chair a congressional hearing on religious violence, government accountability and US support for efforts to protect vulnerable communities in Nigeria.
The United States House of Representatives will hold a congressional hearing on Nigeria’s efforts to protect Christians and address insecurity in the Middle Belt on Thursday, November 12, 2026.
Chris Smith, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, will lead the session, which will examine attacks by extremist groups, the Nigerian government’s response and measures to bring perpetrators to justice.
In a statement issued on Monday, Smith’s office said the hearing, titled One Year Later: Assessing Nigeria’s Efforts to Protect Christians and Secure the Middle Belt, would assess the state of religious violence by extremist groups, including Boko Haram, and government efforts to protect vulnerable communities.
The lawmakers will also consider steps the United States could take to ensure Nigerian authorities prevent attacks against Christians and non-radical Muslim communities.
US officials, security experts to testify
The hearing will feature two panels of witnesses drawn from the US government and organisations working on religious freedom and African security.
The first panel will include 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 feature 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.
The session will begin at 11am at Room 2172 of the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC. It will also be streamed live on YouTube, while other members of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa are expected to participate.
Smith’s office described the session as his 14th congressional hearing on the persecution of Christians in Nigeria.
Hearing follows US designation of Nigeria
Smith has been among US lawmakers pressing for stronger action over allegations that Christians face systematic persecution in Nigeria.
In October 2025, President Donald Trump redesignated Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC), a US designation for countries whose governments are considered to have engaged in or tolerated particularly severe violations of religious freedom.
The move followed Trump’s public accusations that Christians were being killed in Nigeria and that the Nigerian government was failing to protect them.
The Nigerian government rejected the characterisation, arguing that the country’s security challenges affect people of different faiths and that the allegations misrepresented the situation.
On December 25, 2025, US forces carried out airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Sokoto State in coordination with Nigerian authorities. Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs subsequently confirmed the operation, describing it as part of security cooperation and intelligence collaboration between both countries.
The two governments have since pursued closer counterterrorism cooperation, including intelligence sharing and military collaboration.
In May 2026, the Nigerian military announced a joint operation with US forces that killed senior Islamic State commander Abu-Bilal al-Minuki.
The November 12 hearing will provide another opportunity for US lawmakers and officials to assess Nigeria’s response to religious violence and the progress of security cooperation between both countries.
