The concerns were raised during a joint hearing of the US House Subcommittee on Africa and the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, which examined global religious freedom issues. Lawmakers and expert witnesses questioned Nigeria’s decision to hire US lobbying firms while violence linked to religion and insecurity continues at home.
At the hearing, Representative Chris Smith, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Africa Subcommittee, defended the US decision to designate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) under the International Religious Freedom Act. He said the designation was “long overdue” given years of deadly attacks on Christian communities.
Smith said he was troubled by reports that Nigeria had hired DCI Group under a contract worth $9 million, or $750,000 a month, to influence US policymakers. He also cited a separate $120,000-a-month contract involving a Nigerian billionaire and another Washington-based firm.
“They come with well-written talking points to say there’s nothing to see here,” Smith said, arguing that the lobbying efforts risk minimising the scale of religious violence in Nigeria.
Other lawmakers cautioned against oversimplifying Nigeria’s crisis. Representative Sara Jacobs, the ranking member of the subcommittee, said the violence affects both Christians and Muslims and is driven by multiple factors, including terrorism, banditry and farmer-herder conflicts.
Jacobs also criticised recent US military strikes in Nigeria, questioning their effectiveness and warning that they could worsen instability rather than protect civilians.
Former US Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback told the hearing that CPC designations mean little without consequences, urging the US to back them with sanctions and other concrete measures.
Another witness, Dr Stephen Schneck, a former chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, said military responses could be counterproductive and noted that the cost of recent airstrikes may have exceeded funding previously used for peacebuilding and interfaith programmes.
Nigeria’s government has rejected claims that Christians are facing genocide, saying the country’s security crisis is complex and not driven solely by religion.
