Top photo caption: A woman and child cry following a funeral Mass in the parish hall of St. Francis Xavier Church in Owo, Nigeria, June 17, 2022. The Mass was for some of the 40 victims killed in a June 5 attack by gunmen during Mass at the church. OSV News photo/Temilade Adelaja, Reuters
By Kate Scanlon, OSV News
WASHINGTON OSV News — Religious persecution predominantly affecting Christian communities in Nigeria remains a key concern for the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, the commission’s new chair told OSV News in a July 24 interview.
Asif Mahmood, who was recently elected chair of USCIRF, an independent, bipartisan U.S. federal government commission that monitors religious freedom around the globe, told OSV News that “my top priority is going to be — if you ask me, ‘pick one place’ — it’ll be Nigeria.”
Violence against Christians in Nigeria has escalated in recent years from Islamic extremist groups such as Boko Haram. However, Muslim communities have also been gravely impacted by the violence. Disputes between farmers and herders have also led to violence and displacement.
USCIRF previously urged the Trump administration to redesignate Nigeria as a “country of particular concern,” a State Department designation for nations or entities that carry out systemic religious freedom violations. President Donald Trump did so in 2025, the same year the U.S. also carried out a deadly strike in Nigeria on Christmas Day that Trump called an effort to target Islamic State group terrorists who persecuted Christians in that nation.
Pointing to Nigeria’s status as the most populous country in Africa, and close shares of Christians and Muslims in that population, Mahmood said it is crucial to see an end to “misery and that brutality” there, stressing they want to see tangible improvements, such as the recovery of victims of kidnapping.
Trump recently praised Nigerian President Bola Tinubu in a letter released by Tinubu’s office, applauding his efforts to address “the violence affecting Christian communities.”
But Mahmood said the Nigerian government “continues to tolerate and fail to respond to violent attacks against religious communities by non-state actors and expose them to a violent interpretation of Islam.”
He pointed to the commission’s 2026 annual report, released March 4, which stressed its concern about Nigeria.
“Our assessment is what is happening on the ground, what is happening to the households, the communities, how many people can go to Church and perform their services, how many people, how many Churches actually can perform those services without having a huge guarded facility which everybody cannot afford,” he said. “So I would say at this point we don’t see the corner being turned, but hopefully we’ll move in that direction.”
New commissioners recently joined USCIRF after the previous commissioners’ terms expired in May. Mahmood is one of two commissioners who were reappointed.
But three vacancies for commissioners nominated by the White House remain, as the Trump administration has not yet made those appointments. A key, related role at the Department of State, the ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, also remains vacant.
But now that the commission has a quorum, it can resume its work. But Mahmood stressed that they hope the remaining vacancies are filled quickly, so the commission can work at “our full capacity.”
“We fortunately have now six commissioners to start our business now,” Mahmood said, adding he was thankful to his fellow commissioners for the opportunity and praising them for their individual experience on international religious freedom issues.
Congress created both USCIRF and the ambassador role under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, or IRFA. The role is intended to be an adviser to both the president and the secretary of state on religious freedom issues abroad. A previous nomination made by Trump for the ambassador role expired and has yet to be renewed.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment about its plan for the remaining vacancies.
Mahmood stressed that USCIRF is bipartisan and would continue to reflect that in its mission.
“Our priority and our goal and our mission is to help anybody and everybody all over the world who is repressed or oppressed because of their faith or religion,” he said.
In June, the U.S. House of Representatives passed in a bipartisan vote the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) Reauthorization Act of 2026 (H.R. 1744), legislation authored by Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., who hails from the Diocese of Trenton, to extend and authorize annual appropriations for USCIRF through fiscal year 2028.
“USCIRF is a genuinely independent force, a constructive influence on the State Department,” Smith said during June debate on the bill. “USCIRF is important to millions of people of all faiths. I therefore ask all our colleagues to join us in reauthorizing it for two more years.”
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops supported that legislation. It awaits action in the Senate.
Kate Scanlon is a national reporter for OSV News covering Washington. Follow her on X @kgscanlon.
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