House subcommittee hearing urges U.S. action, including possible redesignation of Nigeria as a "country of particular concern"

Chairman Smith opened a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing saying the purpose was “to discuss the deteriorating state of religious freedom in Nigeria and the urgent need to redesignate Nigeria as a country of particular concern, pursuant to the International Religious Freedom Act.”

The hearing brought testimony from human-rights experts, U.S. religious-freedom commissioners and a Nigerian bishop, who described widespread attacks on Christian farming communities, mass displacement and the kidnapping and killing of clergy. Witnesses urged the Biden administration to redraw U.S. policy tools — including possible sanctions and a renewed diplomatic focus — and said cuts to U.S. foreign-assistance programs have weakened conflict-prevention efforts.

Why it matters: Witnesses and several members said the violence has a broad humanitarian and regional security impact, displacing millions from productive farmland and threatening food security in West Africa. They framed the question before the committee as both a human-rights issue and a U.S. foreign-policy decision about whether to reapply the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) mechanism known as designation as a country of particular concern (CPC).

Chairman Smith emphasized that redesignation would be a policy lever to pressure the Nigerian government. ‘‘I reintroduced the resolution calling on the administration to redesignate Nigeria as a CPC,’’ he said, noting H. Res. 82 had been refiled. Ranking Member Jacobs asked witnesses to consider how the United States could combine diplomatic, assistance and accountability tools.

Bishop Wilfred Anagbe, the Catholic bishop of Makurdi Diocese in Benue State, described repeated attacks on villages and said displaced people he shepherds are concentrated in camps he still visits. “The militant Fulani herdsmen are terrorists,” he testified. “They steal and vandalize, they kill and boast about it. They kidnap and rape, and they enjoy total impunity from the elected authorities. None of them have been arrested and brought to justice.”

Tony Perkins, former chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), said the violence meets the legal threshold for CPC designation and criticized the 2021 removal of that designation. “The evidence overwhelmingly meets the legal threshold under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998,” Perkins said. He recommended targeted sanctions on individuals and urged keeping any resulting penalties in place until Nigeria demonstrates concrete improvements.

Nina Shea of the Hudson Institute highlighted patterns of attacks in central “breadbasket” states and urged accountability measures targeted at officials who tolerate abuses. “They need law and order,” Shea said. “They need a government with the political will to apply the law and to hold people accountable.”

Wilson Center Africa program director Onal Bogue (as introduced in the hearing) urged a holistic U.S. approach that balances accountability with assistance and long-term governance and policing reforms. She cautioned that labeling the problem solely as religious risked obscuring other drivers of violence such as governance failures, land disputes and the flow of small arms.

Witnesses and members cited numbers provided during testimony: more than 18,000 churches burned or destroyed in northern Nigeria since 2009 (as reported in committee remarks), an August report cited that 55,910 people were killed and about 21,000 abducted by terror groups from October 2019 to September 2023, and estimates that roughly 5,000,000 Christians have been displaced internally. Witnesses also cited Open Doors reporting that a large share of global Christian fatalities occur in Nigeria.

Several committee members pressed for immediate tools the United States could use. Options discussed included: - Reinstating CPC status under the IRFA to trigger tailored consequences and diplomatic pressure. - Targeted sanctions on named officials (visa bans, asset restrictions) and use of the Global Magnitsky authorities. - Considering designation of violent Fulani militant groups as foreign terrorist organizations if criteria are met.

Committee procedure and record: Representative Jacobs obtained unanimous consent to place into the hearing record a document listing paused or terminated U.S. programs in Nigeria; Chairman Smith made all witness statements part of the record without objection.

What members and witnesses did not decide at the hearing: The panel did not vote on any motion and Congress took no formal enforcement action at the meeting. Several witnesses urged follow-up steps by the administration — including reappointment of an ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom and renewed embassy staffing — to accompany any designation or sanctions.

The hearing also included sustained discussion about U.S. assistance cuts. Representatives and witnesses said Trump administration suspensions and cancellations of multiple USAID and other programs — including youth and peacebuilding initiatives — had removed tools that helped mediate local tensions and build early-warning networks. Committee members and witnesses urged restoring or redesigning those programs while using accountability measures to press for Nigerian government action.

The hearing closed with members reserving additional questions for the record and a pledge to continue oversight. Chairman Smith said he would seek follow-up information and work across the committee to consider legislative and diplomatic options.

Ending note: Witnesses recommended a mix of immediate accountability measures and longer-term investments in security-sector reform, community reconciliation and education; the committee left the central policy question — whether to press the administration to redesignate Nigeria as a CPC — active for further action and consultation.