Chairman of the US house foreign affairs Africa sub-committee, Chris Smith, will spearhead a congressional hearing on Nigeria’s efforts to protect Christians and tackle insecurity in the middle belt.
The hearing, slated for Thursday, November 12, 2026, will assess religious violence by extremist groups, including Boko Haram, and the Nigerian government’s response to attacks on vulnerable communities.
In a statement issued on Monday, Smith’s office stated that the hearing, titled ‘One Year Later: Assessing Nigeria’s Efforts to Protect Christians and Secure the Middle Belt’, would examine measures taken by the Nigerian government to curb religious persecution and bring perpetrators of violence to justice.
The hearing will also examine steps the United States can take to make sure that Nigerian authorities combat and prevent violence against Christians and non-radical Muslim communities.
Smith, a Republican representative from New Jersey, will chair his 14th congressional hearing on the “persecution of Christians in Nigeria”.
The first panel will feature 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 hearing will commence at 11am at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC, and will also be streamed live on YouTube.
Other members of the house foreign affairs Africa sub-committee are expected to participate.
Smith has been one of several US lawmakers pushing allegations of Christian genocide in Nigeria.
In 2025, US President Donald Trump redesignated Nigeria a country of particular concern (CPC) over Christian genocide claims, before backing it up with a missile strike on Nigerian territory on December 25, Christmas Day.
Nigeria and the United States have since entered a military partnership aiming at terrorists in the nation’s arid and very large northern region.
