– U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, held a congressional hearing on the ongoing religious freedom violations in Nigeria.  Expert witnesses joined in Smith’s appeal to Secretary Marco Rubio to redesignate Africa’s most populous nation as a “Country of Particular Concern,” a designation President Trump used in his first term to help persecuted Christians in Nigeria.

"One of our distinguished witnesses—Bishop Wilfred Anagbe of the diocese of Makurdi, Nigeria—will testify today that ‘Militant Fulani herdsman are terrorists. They steal and vandalize, they kill and boast about it, they kidnap and rape, and they enjoy total impunity from the elected officials. None of them have been arrested and brought to justice.'”

                       — Chairman Smith opening the hearing.

“In December 2020, President Trump designated Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern only to be reversed without justification by Secretary Blinken in November of 2021,” Smith said. “Religious leaders in Nigeria were outraged by Sec. Blinken’s decision.

Smith—who is the author of the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act (P.L. 114-281), which expressed that governments must ultimately be held accountable for the abuses that occur in their territories—said “the Government of Nigeria has failed to make progress against religiously motivated persecution of Christians despite religious freedom being enshrined as an essential human right in its Constitution.”

“Genocide Watch has called Nigeria “a killing field of defenseless Christians,” Smith said.  He noted that over 52,000 Christians in Nigeria have reportedly been targeted and killed by Islamist extremist while approximately 34,000 moderate non-Fulani Muslims have been murdered in Islamist attacks, since 2009. The targeted violence has forced about five million Nigerians—mostly Christians—into Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps within Nigeria and in refugee camps at regional and sub-regional borders.

           Click here to read Chairman Smith’s opening statement.

Last year the House Foreign Affairs Committee adopted Smith’s resolution H. Res. 82 urgently calling on the Biden Administration to redesignate Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern. It passed on Feb. 6, 2024 in committee but never came to the House floor. On March 11, 2025, Smith reintroduced his legislation which is now H.Res. 220.

“While I strongly believe that President Trump will again designate Nigeria a CPC—and do much more to assist the persecuted church including outreach to Nigerian President Bola Tinuba—last night I reintroduced the resolution,” Smith said. “Help can’t come fast enough.”

Testifying at the House hearing, entitled “Conflict and Persecution in Nigeria: The Case for a CPC Designation,” were witnesses: Nina Shea, Senior Fellow and Director of the Center for Religious Freedom at the Hudson Institute; Tony Perkins, Former Chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and now President of Family Research Council; Bishop Wilfred Anagbe, Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Makurdi, Nigeria, and; Oge Onubogu , Director of the Africa Program at The Wilson Center.

Bishop Wilfred Anagbe testified: “A long-term, Islamic agenda to homogenize the population has been implemented, over several presidencies, through a strategy to reduce and eventually eliminate the Christian identity of half of the population. This strategy includes both violent and non-violent actions, such as the exclusion of Christians from positions of power, the abduction of Church members, the raping of women, the killing and expulsion of Christians, the destruction of churches and farmlands of Christian farmers, followed by the occupation of such lands by Fulani herders. All of this takes place without government interference or reprisals.” (Click here to read Bishop Anagbe’s remarks.)

Director Shea, told the House panel: “Nigeria is a country of superlatives -- Africa’s most populous country, its largest economy and, alarmingly, the entire world’s deadliest country for Christians. In recent years, more Christians have been killed for their faith in Nigeria than all other places combined, reports the respected research group Open Doors. Currently, militant groups of nomadic Fulani Muslim herders are reported to be the greatest threat to Nigeria’s Christians, particularly those in Middle Belt farming communities. That central area is the intersection of Nigeria’s mostly Muslim North with its mostly Christian South.” (Click here to read Ms. Shea’s remarks.)

Tony Perkins, Former Chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, testified: “As a former USCIRF chair, I can verify that many Western news outlets, taking their cues from the previous administration, continue to overlook the accelerating violence and bloodshed currently taking place in Africa, which is perpetrated mainly by radical Islamist groups. In Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, vicious attacks and bloodshed continue to surge, week after week, month after month. Christians are the primary targets of this terrorism, facing murders, rapes, kidnappings, and constant threats.” (Click here to read Mr. Perkin’s remarks.)

(Advance play to approximately the 2:30 minute mark to beginning of hearing.)