‘Christian Persecution in Nigeria’ Takes Front Burner in US Congressional Hearing November 12

With the view to ascertaining Nigeria’s efforts to protect Christians and tackle insecurity in the Middle Belt, Republican lawmaker Chris Smith, is leading the session in the United States House of Representatives’ congressional hearing on Thursday, November 12, 2026. adsbygoogle || []).push({});

Smith’s office said on Monday, in a statement that the session’s title: ‘One Year Later: Assessing Nigeria’s Efforts to Protect Christians and Secure the Middle Belt’, was scheduled for hearing at 11am at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC. Part of the statement read:

“Congressional hearing that assesses the current state of religious violence perpetrated by radical Islamists, such as Boko Haram and Fulani terrorists, against Christians in Nigeria; the Nigerian government’s efforts to curb the persecution and punish those responsible for committing atrocities against Christian and non-radical Muslim communities; and the steps the United States can take to ensure that Nigerian officials are addressing and preventing the systemic violence against Christians and non-radical Muslims by Islamist extremists.”

Frank Garcia, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, and Riley Barnes, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labour will feature in the first panel.

The second panel has 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 be streamed live on YouTube.

Reportedly, this will be Smith’s 14th congressional hearing exclusively on Nigeria. In November 2025, he chaired a hearing after President Donald Trump’s redesignation of Nigeria as a ‘country of particular concern’.

In May 2016, he also chaired a hearing on “The U.S. role in helping Nigeria confront Boko Haram and other threats in northern Nigeria.”