by Kate ScanlonWASHINGTON (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. 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. A key, related role at the Department of State, the ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, also remains vacant. Congress created both USCIRF and the ambassador role under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, or IRFA. 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.