By Yinka Giwa
House Republicans have introduced a sweeping bill aimed at compelling stronger U.S. action over what they describe as escalating religious persecution and mass atrocities in Nigeria.
The proposed legislation, titled the Nigeria Religious Freedom and Accountability Act of 2026 (HR 7457), would require the U.S. Secretary of State to submit annual reports to congressional foreign affairs committees detailing efforts to address violence against Christians and vulnerable groups in Nigeria. It also calls for a review of whether Fulani ethnic militias should be designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
Beyond potential terrorist designation, the bill urges the State Department to reassess sanctioned individuals and evaluate whether U.S. assistance to Nigeria may be inadvertently enabling religious persecution.
The legislation is sponsored by New Jersey Republican Rep. Chris Smith, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa; Oklahoma Republican Rep. Tom Cole, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee; and West Virginia Republican Rep. Riley Moore. It builds on previous legislative and executive measures targeting insecurity and religious violence in Nigeria.
In addition, the bill directs the Secretary of State to counter what it describes as “hostile foreign exploitation” linked to illegal Chinese mining operations in Nigeria.
Several prominent House Republicans have already thrown their weight behind the measure, including House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast of Florida, Appropriations Vice Chairman Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida, and Bill Huizenga of Michigan, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on South and East Asia.
According to a statement from Rep. Smith’s office, the bill is expected to move swiftly through the House and aligns with actions previously taken by President Donald Trump to confront religious persecution in Nigeria.
In November 2025, Trump designated Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern, a classification that permits the use of economic and diplomatic measures in response to religious freedom violations. The administration also carried out coordinated strikes with the Nigerian government against perpetrators of violence on Christmas Day.
Smith said Congress must now reinforce those steps by pressing the Nigerian government to “address and punish” systemic violence against Christians and non-radical Muslims by Islamist extremist groups.
“The Nigerian government’s blatant denial of the religious persecution occurring within its borders has only enabled the religious-based violence in the country to fester, with Christian deaths and church attacks reaching unprecedented numbers,” Smith said.
The bill references widespread destruction of churches, mass kidnappings, sexual violence and attacks on villages. It estimates that between 50,000 and 125,000 Christians were killed between 2009 and 2025.
Rep. Moore, who said he visited Nigeria as part of an investigation requested by President Trump, described witnessing firsthand the scale of the crisis.
“I saw the security challenges Nigeria faces and the horrors our brothers and sisters in Christ endure,” Moore said, adding that the bill demonstrates that “the United States stands with our persecuted.”
Rep. Cole argued that defending religious liberty globally is both a moral obligation and a strategic American interest. He said the legislation would reinforce the administration’s stance that “religious persecution will not be tolerated.”
Judd Saul, head of Equipping the Persecuted and Truth Nigeria, an organization that documents religious violence in the country, described the bill as “a step in the right direction” and commended its sponsors for taking action.