The Federal Government of Nigeria has approved a nine million dollar lobbying contract with a United States public affairs firm to sell its narrative on the protection of Christian communities to policymakers in Washington DC, a move that has triggered serious questions about priorities, transparency and governance at a time of deepening insecurity across the country.
Records filed with the United States Department of Justice show that Aster Legal, a Kaduna based law firm, retained DCI Group on behalf of the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu. The agreement was signed on December 17, 2025, for an initial six month period running to June 30, 2026, with an automatic renewal clause unless terminated with sixty days’ notice.
Under the contract terms, the Nigerian government prepaid four point five million dollars on December 12 as a six month retainer, translating to a monthly fee of seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The payment covers professional services and expenses and is structured in two six month instalments, bringing the total value of the deal to nine million dollars.
DCI Group is mandated to assist the Nigerian government, through Aster Legal, in communicating its efforts to protect Christian communities and in maintaining United States support for Nigeria’s counterterrorism campaign against West African jihadist groups and other destabilising forces.
The contract comes amid sustained scrutiny from sections of the US government over allegations of targeted attacks on Christians in Nigeria. In October 2025, Nigeria was redesignated by the Trump administration as a country of particular concern for religious freedom issues, following claims of widespread violence against Christian communities, a label the Nigerian government has consistently rejected while insisting that insecurity affects all Nigerians regardless of faith.
While the government is investing millions of dollars to polish its image abroad, Nigerians at home continue to face daily kidnappings, mass killings, banditry and terror attacks, with communities across the North Central, North East, North West and parts of the South groaning under failed protection.
For many citizens, the optics are troubling: a government willing to spend scarce public resources lobbying foreign capitals, yet unable to decisively secure lives and property within its own borders. The decision also raises accountability concerns.
There has been no public briefing to Nigerians explaining why a foreign lobbying firm is needed to “communicate” security efforts that should speak for themselves through results on the ground. No cost benefit analysis has been shared, and no justification offered for why nine million dollars could not be channelled into equipping security agencies, supporting victims, or strengthening intelligence and local policing structures.
Equally disturbing is the silence from critical government institutions. As of the time of filing this report, neither the Presidency, the Office of the National Security Adviser nor the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued an official statement clarifying the objectives, scope or expected outcomes of the contract, or how it aligns with Nigeria’s broader security and diplomatic strategy.
Good governance is not about lobbying narratives; it is about measurable outcomes. Nations earn credibility abroad by fixing problems at home, not by paying consultants to explain failure away. If Christians, Muslims and traditional worshippers alike are still being killed, abducted and displaced, no amount of expensive lobbying can substitute for effective leadership, accountability and genuine security reform.
Nigeria does not need public relations abroad as much as it needs protection for its people at home. Until that basic duty is fulfilled, spending millions of dollars to “communicate efforts” will continue to look less like diplomacy and more like a costly distraction from hard truths and unmet responsibilities.
