Details have now emerged that President Muhammadu Buhari's administration also acquired the service of a foreign lobbying firm which it pays N10 million monthly to carry out image laundering and relationship building tasks.
It was learnt that the firm identified as Pagefield Global, with offices in the UK and US, was hired just a month after the PDP Presidential candidate, Alh. Atiku Abubakar hired Fein & DelValle PLLC, which he paid $30,000 (about N10.8 million) per month.
According to information reportedly published by the United States' Department of Justice Foreign Agents’ Registration Act (FARA) on its website, Abubakar had enlisted the firm to help him promote his narratives as he challenges INEC's declaring of incumbent President Buhari the winner of the 2019 presidential elections.
Recall, news about Atiku's hiring of the firm cum payment of $30,000 monthly caused serious backlash from Nigerians who perceived the move as desperate and lavish.
However, documents obtained from the same FARA's website by Premium Times confirm that the Buhari's administration through the office of the Solicitor-General of the Federation, Ministry of Justice in fact contracted Pagefield Global for a PR mission, in what might seem like a response to Abubakar's hiring of the US firm, Fein & DelValle PLLC.
Pagefield Global's mandate according to the document is to give “public affairs and public relations advice and monitoring, undertaking outreach and relationship building with various stakeholders and the media in connection with legal disputes that the Solicitor General is conducting on behalf of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
Premium Times reported that the documents lists Dayo Apata, Nigeria’s Solicitor General, as the middle-man for the Nigerian government and Pagefield Global on the contract.
The platform also said, as a tactic to avoid public scrutiny, the Nigerian government opted for a non-written contract with Pagefield Global where it agreed to pay the lobbying firm a monthly fee of about N10 million.
“There is no written contract between the parties. Our understanding is that we will be paid £21,600 per month by the Federal Republic of Nigeria, on a one month notice period,” Pagefield reportedly wrote in its registration statement submitted to the Department of Justice.
Premium Times said when it reached Apata for comment, he denied knowledge of the contract.
“Please disregard that. It couldn’t be from the Ministry of Justice,” he said.
But when told that his name was mentioned in the document as the contact person in the Ministry of Justice, he said he needed to look at the documents and “confirm with his boss and then get back to you.”
It's not the first time that Ministry of Justice will be acquiring the services of a U.S. lobbying firm. In May 2018, the justice minister, Abubakar Malami, hired two American lobbying firms to plant opinion articles favourable to the Buhari administration in American newspapers.
The value of the verbal contract, which was done through a Nigerian public relations firm, Channel Koos, was not disclosed. However, Channel Koos was paid $8,000 for helping to hire the two U.S. lobbying firms.
