By The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has said the reported approval of a $9 million contract by the federal government for lobbying services in the United States over the security situation in Nigeria is scandalous.
The opposition party said the attempt by the administration to launder its image abroad while Nigerians grapple with worsening insecurity and economic hardship is indefensible.
The party, in a statement signed by its national publicity secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, stated that the expenditure reflects misplaced priorities, especially at a time when thousands of citizens have been killed and millions can barely afford basic necessities.
It further argued that no amount of paid lobbying can mask the government’s failure to protect lives and property.
A report emerged about how the federal government hired a lobby firm to assist in communicating its actions on protecting Christians in Nigeria to the United States government.
The contract sum for the firm is said to be $9m.
Reacting however, the ADC spokesman said no government in Africa has ever committed such an obscene sum to a short-term public relations exercise.
“While the ADC recognises the importance of representing Nigeria’s interests internationally, spending $9 million on image management at a time when millions of Nigerians cannot afford food, fuel, or basic healthcare is a clear case of misplaced priorities and moral blindness.
“This decision is also an admission of diplomatic failure. A government that has left key ambassadorial positions vacant now seeks to outsource diplomacy to lobbyists, further weakening Nigeria’s institutional credibility and reducing foreign policy to transactional propaganda.
“More troubling is the illusion that paid lobbying in Washington can erase the reality of mass killings, widespread insecurity, and state failure at home. No amount of image laundering can wash away the blood of thousands of Nigerians killed under this administration’s watch,” Abdullahi said.
He added that lobbying to impress foreign leaders cannot substitute for a coherent strategy to end the bloodbath.
He said a President who declares a state of emergency on security and then proceeds on foreign holidays cannot be rescued by public relations firms.
“Equally dangerous is the framing of this lobbying effort as a campaign to “communicate Christian protection efforts.”
“This risks deepening sectarian tensions and politicising security in a country already strained by religious and ethnic fault lines. Security failures affect all Nigerians, regardless of faith, and cannot be addressed through selective messaging abroad instead of justice, accountability, and effective governance at home.”
The ADC spokesman, who stressed that Nigeria does not need propaganda, said Nigeria needs leadership.
He said resources should be spent protecting lives, restoring trust in state institutions, and rebuilding a country in distress, not polishing the image of a government that has failed its most basic responsibility is the protection of lives and property.
