By Kenneth Gbandi -AH 16 January 2026
By any honest measure, governance is about choices. And choices, in turn, reveal priorities. Today, the priorities of the Tinubu-led APC government are laid bare, not in policy papers or lofty speeches, but in a staggering decision to lavish public resources on Washington lobbyists while ordinary Nigerians are crushed under the weight of economic hardship.
It is no longer a secret that the Federal Government of Nigeria has contracted a U.S.-based firm, DCI Group, to the tune of $9 million, roughly ₦12 billion to “communicate” Nigeria’s so-called efforts to protect Christians to the Trump administration. Analysts report that the arrangement runs at about $750,000 per month for an initial six months, renewable for another six. This is not diplomacy; it is damage control. And it is being funded by a people already taxed to the brink of survival.
Let us be clear about the context. Nigeria today is a nation where taxes are rising, unemployment is rampant, and the prices of basic goods and services have skyrocketed beyond the reach of average citizens. It is a country where security agencies operate out of dilapidated buildings, with poor welfare and inadequate equipment, even as insecurity ravages communities. It is a country where young people, energetic, educated, and innovative wander hopelessly in search of meaningful employment, while a technology-driven generation cannot find seed capital to turn ideas into enterprises.
This is also a country where pensioners can barely make ends meet after a lifetime of service, and where parents are drowning under unbearable educational costs imposed by unprecedented economic hardship. Yet, in the midst of all this, the Tinubu APC-led government has found ₦12 billion to pay Washington lobbyists, funds that will invariably circulate within the same political ecosystem of Donald Trump and his cronies.
Why this sudden urgency to curry favor abroad? The answer is as troubling as it is obvious. This expenditure is less about protecting Christians or improving Nigeria’s international image and more about averting U.S. pressure on the Tinubu APC government ahead of the 2027 elections. It is about regime survival, not national survival. It is about insulating power, not uplifting people.
Actions define priority. And the actions of this government speak loudly. A government genuinely interested in good governance would channel scarce resources into security, education, healthcare, job creation, and innovation. It would invest in people, not propaganda. It would rebuild trust at home, not hire lobbyists abroad to launder its image.
Instead, what we see is a government more interested in sustaining itself in power so it can continue to plunder our commonwealth. Nigerians are being taxed relentlessly, not to improve their lives, but to finance political self-preservation on foreign soil. This is governance turned upside down: the people suffer so the ruling elite can feel secure.
History teaches us that no amount of foreign lobbying can substitute for legitimacy earned at home. You cannot outsource credibility. You cannot buy goodwill while citizens starve. And you cannot lobby your way out of the consequences of bad governance.
As 2027 approaches, Nigerians must recognize this moment for what it is: another strong reminder that the APC has lost both its moral compass and its sense of national priority. The year 2027 will not merely be an election; it will be another date with history, a moment when Nigerians, united across regions, faiths, and generations, decide whether to continue on this path of elite indulgence and mass suffering, or to reclaim their country from those who see power as an end in itself.
No lobbyist in Washington can silence the cry of a hungry people. And no amount of propaganda can erase the truth lived daily by millions of Nigerians.
Hon. Kenneth Gbandi is a Nigerian-German politician, diaspora leader, and former National Deputy Chairman (Diaspora Engagement) of the African Democratic Congress (ADC). Based in Germany and Nigeria, he has been involved over the past 30 years in diaspora political organizing and advocacy, while remaining deeply engaged in Nigeria’s democratic struggles and governance debates.
