US Congress Slams Nigeria’s $9m Lobbying Deal Over Religious Freedom Concerns

A United States congressional hearing on global religious freedom has criticised the Federal Government’s reported $9m lobbying contract in Washington, with lawmakers warning that the deal appeared designed to downplay serious human rights and religious freedom abuses in Nigeria.

The concerns were raised on Wednesday during a joint hearing of the House Subcommittee on Africa and the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, titled “Defending Religious Freedom Around the World.”

The session featured testimonies from former US Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, Sam Brownback, and former chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), Dr Stephen Schneck.

Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Africa Subcommittee, Chris Smith, defended the October 2025 decision to designate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) under the International Religious Freedom Act, describing the move as “long overdue” following years of deadly violence against Christian communities.

Smith, however, said he was troubled by efforts to counter the designation through lobbying.

“I just want to say to my colleagues that I am deeply concerned that Nigeria has hired the lobbying firm, DCI Group, to the tune of $9m, $750,000 a month,” he said.

“And a Nigerian billionaire has entered into a $120,000-a-month contract with Washington-based consulting firm Valcour, to influence Congress and the Executive Branch.

“They hire these firms; they come up with their very well-written talking points to say nothing to see here and unfortunately, how these firms are just so good at advocating for their client for religious freedom.”

While Smith argued that the CPC designation was necessary to pressure Nigeria, Ranking Member Sara Jacobs criticised what she described as an overly narrow focus on Christian persecution.

Jacobs noted that despite expressed concern over religious violence, the United States had cut hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign assistance to Nigeria, including programmes aimed at supporting faith leaders and communities affected by conflict.

She cited the termination of the Community Initiatives to Promote Peace programme, which she said had helped reduce violence in parts of the country.

“Despite the administration’s apparent interest in addressing conflict and religious tensions in Nigeria, it has cut hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign assistance to Nigeria, including assistance to faith leaders and to communities experiencing violence in the Middle Belt,” Jacobs said.

She cautioned against framing Nigeria’s crisis purely in religious terms, stressing that “the violence in Nigeria is complex, affecting both Christians and Muslims, and the drivers of this violence are multifaceted and cannot be reduced to a single framing.”

Jacobs added that “oversimplistic narratives can further inflame religious tensions in communities.”

The lawmaker also questioned the impact of recent US military action in Sokoto State, saying, “And yet, it is clear that President Trump only cares about Christians in Nigeria, and his only real action to address this problem, military strikes over Christmas, has not even done anything to materially help those communities.”

Former USCIRF chair Schneck agreed, warning that the cost of the strikes likely outweighed funding previously allocated to interfaith and humanitarian initiatives.

“In fact, it occurs to me that the cost of the Tomahawk missiles that were sent probably exceeded the amount of money that had previously been going to Nigeria to improve interfaith relations and provide humanitarian assistance,” he said.

“So, it is very concerning to me. In fact, I suspect, really, that strikes like that, to the extent that they have any effect at all, would likely drive some of these more militant organisations together in greater unity and perhaps mobilise them in the future. So I think that the strike was a mistake,” Schneck added.

Testifying on Nigeria’s broader security challenges, Schneck described the situation as a mix of Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorism, farmer-herder conflicts, banditry, organised crime, mass displacement, and what he called “a corrupt and frankly, a failing government” unable to guarantee basic security and justice.

Lawmakers also debated whether the CPC designation alone was effective. Rep Jefferson Shreve questioned its impact, prompting Brownback to argue that the label must be backed by sanctions and concrete measures.

“Until you put some bite into it, most of these dictators are just going to thumb their nose at you,” Brownback said, calling for “Magnitsky sanctions” and targeted economic penalties.

Schneck supported this position, describing CPC listings as largely “name and shame” measures without direct consequences.

Although Rep Bill Huizenga said recent US actions had helped refocus “attention on Nigeria,” Brownback expressed deep mistrust of the Federal Government, accusing it of abandoning power-sharing traditions and failing to protect vulnerable communities.

“This government has not given us any reason to trust them,” Brownback said, reflecting the scepticism that dominated the hearing and the sharp criticism of Nigeria’s multimillion-dollar lobbying effort.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that Christians in Nigeria are facing genocide and has previously threatened military action. The Federal Government has rejected the claims, insisting that while the country faces serious security challenges, there is no genocide.

Despite the tensions, US Africa Command, working with President Bola Tinubu’s administration, carried out airstrikes on December 25 against terrorist targets in Sokoto State.

In January, documents revealed that the Federal Government entered into a $9m contract with US-based lobbying firm DCI Group to communicate Nigeria’s efforts to protect Christians to the US government.