In a transfer aimed toward tackling rising violence towards Christians in Nigeria, U.S. Representatives Riley Moore (R-WV) and Chris Smith (R-NJ), Chairman of the Home Overseas Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, have launched the Nigeria Non secular Freedom and Accountability Act of 2026 (H.R. 7457).
The proposed laws seeks to extend transparency and strengthen each U.S. and Nigerian responses to what its sponsors describe as systematic non secular persecution and mass atrocities towards Christian communities.
The invoice has garnered help from key congressional figures, together with Home Overseas Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast (R-FL), Home Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-OK), Appropriations Vice Chairman Mario Díaz-Balart (R-FL), and Overseas Affairs Subcommittee on South and East Asia Chairman Invoice Huizenga (R-MI).
If handed, the laws would require the U.S. Secretary of State to submit an annual complete report back to Congress outlining American efforts to fight non secular persecution in Nigeria.
It additionally directs the Secretary of State to look at choices resembling designating Fulani militias as a Overseas Terrorist Group (FTO), reviewing sanctions on people linked to violence, and assessing whether or not U.S. international help is inadvertently contributing to or failing to curb the persecution of Christians.
Talking on the invoice, Rep. Moore pressured what he described as an ethical obligation. “The U.S. is a Christian nation. As such, we should stand with persecuted Christians around the globe,” he stated.
He added that the laws builds on earlier actions, together with Nigeria’s earlier designation as a Nation of Explicit Concern (CPC) over extreme non secular freedom violations and current U.S.-Nigeria safety cooperation frameworks.
Rep. Smith, a longstanding advocate for worldwide non secular freedom, stated the invoice is meant to interrupt what he termed “the silence on mass Christian killings” in Nigeria’s Center Belt and northern areas, the place assaults by armed {groups}, typically recognized as Fulani militias, have reportedly claimed hundreds of lives in recent times.
The introduction of the invoice comes amid rising worldwide concern over Nigeria’s safety disaster, which has displaced communities and drawn criticism over what some observers describe as an insufficient authorities response.
Advocacy organisations and non secular freedom displays have persistently ranked Nigeria among the many most harmful international locations on the planet for Christians, citing reviews of focused killings, abductions and destruction of locations of worship.
With broad bipartisan and committee-level backing, the invoice is predicted to maneuver swiftly by way of the Home of Representatives.
Sponsors say it builds on earlier congressional resolutions condemning non secular persecution in Nigeria and calling for stronger measures to guard non secular minorities.
As deliberations start, the proposed laws alerts growing focus inside the U.S. Congress on accountability for perpetrators of violence and larger safety for susceptible religion communities in Africa’s most populous nation.