By Babs Oyetoro, with agency report
The United States Congress has sharply criticised Nigeria’s handling of widespread attacks on Christian communities, following a tense hearing on Capitol Hill that revived global scrutiny of the country’s deteriorating security landscape.
At the session convened by the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, lawmakers questioned whether the Nigerian government has demonstrated the political will or capacity to stem years of deadly violence in the Middle Belt and other hotspots.
The hearing was prompted by President Donald Trump’s decision to redesignate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) over alleged severe violations of religious freedom.
Subcommittee Chairman, Rep. Chris Smith, described Nigeria as “ground zero” for some of the world’s worst massacres of Christian populations, warning that the CPC label was not politically motivated but a response to an “intolerable scale of killings” in Benue, Plateau, Kaduna, and other regions.
Senior US State Department officials, including Jonathan Pratt of the Bureau of African Affairs and Jacob McGee of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour, told lawmakers that Nigeria must “take responsibility” for extremist violence and adopt verifiable measures against perpetrators.
They also raised concerns over Sharia-based criminal laws in northern states, arguing that some provisions may violate US religious-freedom thresholds.
Emotional testimonies dominated the hearing. Bishop Wilfred Anagbe detailed waves of killings and displacement in the Middle Belt, while a Benue woman who lost five children in the Yelwata massacre recounted the attack while holding her lone surviving infant.
Ms Oge Onubogu, Director of the Africa Program at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), cautioned against simplifying the crisis as solely a Christian genocide, insisting that systemic governance failures were at the heart of Nigeria’s insecurity.
Lawmakers also reviewed potential consequences of the CPC designation, which enables Washington to impose sanctions, restrict certain foreign assistance, or issue visa bans on Nigerian officials — actions analysts warned could strain security cooperation against Boko Haram, ISWAP, and bandit groups.
The hearing followed recent escalatory rhetoric from Trump, who suggested the US might consider military intervention if Nigeria failed to halt attacks on Christians. Abuja dismissed the comments as a distorted portrayal of its religious climate.
For Nigeria, the congressional spotlight underscores deeper concerns about its internal security failures, international credibility, and the long-term implications of being placed under the US’s harshest religious-freedom classification.
Whether the hearing signals a turning point will depend on the government’s response, officials said.
McGee, in closing remarks, lamented Nigeria’s inadequate response to Islamist attacks targeting Christian communities. “Compared to their population, there has been a disproportionate killing of Christians,” he said, noting that “the vast majority” of Christian killings worldwide occur in Nigeria.
