FG spent extra ₦500m to counter Christian persecution narrative – Records

The Federal Government spent ₦500 million in 2025 on an emergency strategic communications campaign to counter international allegations of Christian persecution in Nigeria, according to records obtained from the government’s expenditure tracking platform, GovSpend.

The payment record showed that ₦500,000,000 was disbursed on December 19, 2025, under the Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Policy Communications.

The payment was described as funding for an “emergency Strategic Communications & Global Media Engagement to counter coordinated Western propaganda against the government on alleged Christian persecution.”

The expenditure came amid increasing international scrutiny of Nigeria’s security situation and allegations of religious persecution.

The communications campaign followed another major government initiative in the same year, when Nigeria retained a United States-based lobbying firm under a $9 million contract to strengthen engagement with U.S. policymakers over reports of attacks on Christian communities.

Documents filed under the U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) showed that Kaduna-based law firm Aster Legal engaged DCI Group, a Washington-based public affairs and lobbying firm, on behalf of the Office of the National Security Adviser.

The agreement, signed on December 18, 2025, tasked DCI Group with communicating Nigeria’s efforts to protect Christian communities and sustaining U.S. support for counterterrorism operations against Boko Haram, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), and other extremist groups.

Under the contract, the Nigerian government agreed to pay the firm $750,000 monthly, amounting to $9 million annually, with an initial six-month retainer of $4.5 million.

The lobbying effort followed the redesignation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) by the United States in October 2025 over allegations of widespread violations of religious freedom affecting Christian communities.

Despite the designation, security cooperation between Nigeria and the United States has continued, with both countries maintaining collaboration on intelligence sharing, military training, defence support and counterterrorism operations.

The Nigerian government also recently released what it described as a letter from U.S. President Donald Trump to President Bola Tinubu, in which Trump acknowledged the violence affecting Christian communities while expressing support for Nigeria’s efforts against terrorism.

In the letter, Trump praised Tinubu’s leadership and said he appreciated the President’s determination to address “the violence affecting Christian communities” while reaffirming Washington’s commitment to strengthening security cooperation with Nigeria.

The Federal Government has consistently rejected claims that Christians are being systematically targeted by state policy, insisting that Nigeria’s security crisis is driven by terrorism, banditry, communal clashes and other criminal activities that affect both Christians and Muslims.

Conflict data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED) showed that Nigeria recorded 7,956 conflict incidents between July 2025 and June 2026, resulting in about 15,000 deaths and exposing an estimated 66.8 million people to violence and insecurity.

According to the data, Borno State recorded the highest number of conflict incidents with 1,218 cases, followed by Katsina (958), Zamfara (885), Sokoto (599), Kaduna (390), Benue (377) and Plateau (346).

The figures underscore the scale of Nigeria’s security challenges, even as the government continues efforts at home and abroad to counter narratives that it says misrepresent the country’s security and religious freedom situation.