A United States congressional hearing on global religious freedom has faulted the Federal Government over its reported $9 million lobbying agreement in Washington, with lawmakers warning that the contract appeared designed to minimise serious allegations of human rights and religious freedom abuses.
The issue was raised on Wednesday at a joint hearing of the House Subcommittee on Africa and the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, themed “Defending Religious Freedom Around the World.” The session, monitored by Saturday PUNCH, featured testimony 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 designation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) under the International Religious Freedom Act, describing the move as “long overdue” given years of deadly attacks on Christian communities.
Smith said he was disturbed by attempts to counter the CPC designation through lobbying efforts.
“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,” Smith 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, and they produce very polished talking points suggesting there is nothing to see here. Unfortunately, these firms are very effective at advocating for their clients on religious freedom issues.”
While Smith argued that the CPC designation was necessary to pressure Nigeria, the ranking member, Sara Jacobs, criticised what she described as an overly narrow emphasis on Christian persecution.
Jacobs noted that despite professed concern over religious violence, the US had cut hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign assistance to Nigeria, including funding for faith leaders and communities affected by conflict. She pointed specifically to the cancellation of the Community Initiatives to Promote Peace programme, which she said had reduced violence in some areas.
