The Federal Government spent an additional N500m in 2025 on an emergency media campaign to counter international allegations that Christians are being persecuted in Nigeria, official spending records have shown.
According to records on the government’s expenditure tracking platform, GovSpend, the money was released on December 19, 2025, through the Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Policy Communications.
The payment description stated that the fund was for “emergency Strategic Communications & Global Media Engagement to counter coordinated Western propaganda against the government on alleged Christian persecution.”
The expenditure came in the same year Nigeria signed a $9 million contract with DCI Group, a United States-based lobbying and public affairs firm, to improve engagement with American officials over claims of attacks on Christian communities.
Documents filed under the U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) showed that Aster Legal, a Kaduna-based law firm, hired DCI Group on behalf of the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu.
Under the agreement signed on December 18, 2025, DCI Group was tasked with communicating Nigeria’s efforts to protect Christian communities and maintaining US support for the country’s fight against Boko Haram, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), and other extremist groups.
The contract provides for monthly payments of $750,000, amounting to $9 million over one year if renewed.
The lobbying effort followed renewed scrutiny from US policymakers after President Donald Trump redesignated Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) in October 2025 over allegations of widespread persecution of Christians.
Despite the designation, security cooperation between Nigeria and the United States has continued, with both countries maintaining partnerships on intelligence sharing, military training, defence equipment, logistics support, and counterterrorism operations.
The Nigerian government also released what it described as a letter from President Trump to President Bola Tinubu, in which Trump acknowledged violence affecting Christian communities while reaffirming America’s support for Nigeria’s fight against terrorism.
Successive Nigerian governments have maintained that the country’s security crisis is driven by terrorism, banditry, communal clashes, and other criminal activities, rather than a policy of religious persecution. Officials insist that both Christians and Muslims have suffered from the violence.
Data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED) showed that Nigeria recorded 7,956 conflict events between July 2025 and June 2026, leading to about 15,000 deaths.
The figures also showed that Borno State recorded the highest number of conflict incidents during the period, followed by Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto, Kaduna, Benue, and Plateau states.
