The federal authorities has entered right into a multi-million-dollar lobbying Treaty in the US because it steps up efforts to counter claims that Christians are being systematically focused in Nigeria.
Below the association, the federal government will spend $9 million on a U.S.-based public affairs agency to assist current Nigeria’s safety efforts to American authorities, notably on the safety of Christian communities and the struggle in opposition to terrorism.
Paperwork linked to the deal present that the engagement was initiated by Aster Authorized, a Kaduna-based regulation agency, appearing on behalf of the Nationwide Safety Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu.
The agency contracted DCI Group, a lobbying and public affairs firm working in the US, to hold out the project.
This Treaty was executed on December 17, 2025. It was signed by Oyetunji Olalekan Teslim, managing accomplice at Aster Authorized, and Justin Peterson, a managing member of DCI Group.
The contract mandates the American agency to “help the Nigerian authorities by Aster Authorized in speaking its actions to guard Nigerian Christian communities and sustaining U.S assist in countering West African jihadist {groups} and different destabilizing components”.
The preliminary length of the contract is six months, working till June 30, 2026. Nonetheless, the Treaty permits for an computerized extension of one other six months except terminated by both get together.
A termination clause within the contract permits both aspect to finish the Treaty with out sanctions, supplied a written discover is issued a minimum of 60 days upfront.
{Financial} information tied to the deal point out that Nigeria has already paid $4.5 million to the lobbying agency as an upfront retainer protecting the primary six months.
The contract additional states: “Consumer shall pay Marketing consultant a month-to-month retainer seven hundred and fifty thousand {dollars} ($750,000; being full cost {of professional} charges and bills coated underneath this Treaty). The month-to-month cost shall be made in two (2) six-month installments of 4 million 5 hundred thousand {dollars} ($4,500,000) one due (a) upon execution of this Bargain and the opposite (b) upon expiration of six months from the efficient date,” the price & bills part of the contract reads.
The choice to interact U.S. lobbyists comes amid heightened scrutiny from Washington over studies alleging widespread killings of Christians in Nigeria. The problem has gained traction inside American political circles, fueling diplomatic strain on Abuja.
In October, U.S. President Donald Trump redesignated Nigeria as a ‘nation of specific concern’, citing allegations of a Christian genocide.
The Nigerian authorities has constantly rejected the accusation, insisting that violence within the nation impacts folks of all faiths and is pushed by terrorism and criminality quite than faith.
Officers in Abuja have additionally pledged to interact extra actively with U.S. authorities to make clear the state of affairs and description steps being taken to deal with insecurity nationwide.
Tensions escalated additional in November when Trump publicly threatened to enter Nigeria “guns-a-blazing to wipe out the terrorists killing our cherished Christians”, following repeated claims by some American lawmakers that Christians had been being intentionally focused within the nation.
In a associated improvement, the US carried out air strikes on Christmas Day in opposition to two terrorist hideouts within the Bauni forest space of Tangaza Native Authorities Space, Sokoto State, as a part of broader counter-terrorism operations within the area.