BREAKING: US Congress Sets Joint Briefing on Alleged Persecution of Christians in Nigeria

The United States House Appropriations Committee will on Tuesday convene a joint congressional briefing to examine rising allegations of persecution and targeted attacks against Christians in Nigeria.

The meeting, confirmed in a public notice shared by Congressman Riley Moore on X, will be led by House Appropriations Committee Vice Chair and National Security Subcommittee Chair, Mario Díaz-Balart. Lawmakers from the Appropriations Committee will participate alongside members of the House Foreign Affairs and Financial Services Committees.

According to the announcement, the closed-door session will also receive submissions from representatives of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) and other experts tracking religious-freedom violations across the globe.

The briefing aims “to spotlight the escalating violence and targeted persecution of Christians in Nigeria,” the notice stated, adding that testimony gathered during the roundtable will contribute to a broader report ordered by President Donald Trump. The report is expected to outline the scale of violence against Christian communities in Nigeria and recommend legislative steps Congress can take to support ongoing White House initiatives on global religious-freedom protections.

The planned engagement comes amid renewed diplomatic activity between Abuja and Washington, following a spike in terrorist attacks across several Nigerian states. Last week, President Bola Tinubu approved the formation of Nigeria’s contingent to the Nigeria–US Joint Working Group on security cooperation, a commitment reaffirmed during a recent high-level visit to Washington led by National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu.

Ribadu is to lead Nigeria’s team, which includes senior officials drawn from defence, intelligence, and national-security institutions. The group is tasked with strengthening operational collaboration with Washington in areas including counterterrorism, intelligence sharing, and security-sector support.

International scrutiny intensified earlier this year after President Trump publicly warned of what he described as “Christian genocide” in Nigeria and threatened decisive US military intervention. Nigerian authorities dismissed the claim, insisting that ongoing operations were addressing the nation’s complex security challenges.