The United States (US) Congress is set to hold a fresh hearing on attacks against Christians in Nigeria, putting the administration of President Bola Tinubu under renewed pressure over its handling of insecurity.
The hearing, scheduled for Thursday, November 12, 2026, will examine what the Nigerian government has done in the past year to protect Christians, tackle insecurity in the Middle Belt and bring those behind religious attacks to justice.
The session will begin at 11 am at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC, and will be streamed live on YouTube.
The chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Chris Smith, will lead the hearing.
In a statement on Monday, Smith’s office announced that the session would be held under the title, ‘One Year Later: Assessing Nigeria’s Efforts to Protect Christians and Secure the Middle Belt’.
The lawmakers are expected to review Nigeria’s response to attacks on Christian communities, the activities of terrorist groups, including Boko Haram, and efforts to punish those responsible for the violence.
Two panels of witnesses will appear before the lawmakers.
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 have Nina Shea of the Hudson Institute, Ryan Brown, Chief Executive Officer of Open Doors US, and Oge Onubogu of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.
The hearing will also examine possible steps the United States could take to pressure the Nigerian government to protect Christians and Muslim communities that reject extremism.
The meeting comes one year after US President Donald Trump returned Nigeria to the list of Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) over alleged religious persecution.
Trump had first placed Nigeria on the list in 2020, but former President Joe Biden removed the country after taking office.
On October 31, 2025, Trump announced Nigeria’s return to the list, claiming that Christians were facing an existential threat from radical Islamist groups.
He also accused the groups of killing thousands of Christians and threatened to cut US aid to Nigeria if the attacks continued.
In a statement on November 1, 2025, Trump warned that the United States could consider military action against terrorist groups operating in the country.
He said, “If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the USA will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now-disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities.”
Trump also said he had directed the US Department of War to prepare for possible action against the groups.
Since then, Nigeria and the United States have moved into a military partnership aimed at tackling terrorist groups, particularly those operating in northern Nigeria.
