Led by House Appropriations Vice Chair Mario Díaz-Balart, the session aims to inform a comprehensive report ordered by President Donald Trump on recent massacres and potential US policy steps to pressure Nigeria’s government to respond.
The US House Appropriators and Foreign Affairs leaders held a rare joint briefing yesterday to investigate escalating violence against Christians in Nigeria.
Led by House Appropriations Vice Chair Mario Díaz-Balart, the session aims to inform a comprehensive report ordered by President Donald Trump on recent massacres and potential US policy steps to pressure Nigeria’s government to respond.
The briefing gathered testimony from experts, including Vicky Hartzler of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, who described the situation as “religious freedom under siege”. Witnesses highlighted the abduction of hundreds of children, attacks on Christian villages, and the burning of churches.
The investigation follows Trump’s designation of Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” and his call for Congress to examine potential genocide against Christians in the country. Lawmakers are considering targeted sanctions, visa restrictions, and aid conditionality to pressure Nigeria to act.
Vicky Hartzler, chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, recently testified before lawmakers, stating that “religious freedom is under siege” in Nigeria.
She cited the abduction of over 300 children and attacks where “radical Muslims kill entire Christian villages and burn churches” as evidence of the dire situation. Hartzler emphasized that these violations are “rampant,” “violent,” and disproportionately affect Christians, who are targeted at a 2.2 to 1 rate compared to Muslims .
The U.S. Congress is investigating these claims, with some lawmakers pushing for sanctions and other measures against Nigerian officials deemed complicit in the violence.
The Nigerian government has denied these allegations, attributing the violence to various factors, including criminality and local disputes.
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