Nigeria, Africa's most populous country and major oil supplier that is being rocked by an bloody insurrection, has hired Mercury Public Affairs to enhance bilateral diplomatic, economic and security relations between it and the U.S.
The Omnicom unit will collect $300K in fees for the four-month outreach program.
Mercury is to provide Nigerian Ambassador Adebowale Adefuye government affairs counsel and will foster meetings for Nigerian officials with U.S. business and thought leaders.
The government of Nigeria, where half of the 160M population is Muslim, has been battling the Boko Haram jihadist group since 2009. The army killed 35 militants on Aug. 4. The fighting and political upheaval has had a major impact on Nigeria's energy sector, which is dominated by Shell Oil.
Shell blamed a second-quarter earnings decline on political unrest, sabotage, theft and environmental issues that impacted its Nigerian operation.
Mercury's Vin Weber, the former Minnesota Congressman and well-connected Republican operative, is expected to play a key part in the push for Nigeria.
Edelman is providing communications support to Panama’s Ministry of Commerce and Industries under an agreement capped at $97,100 per month.
Ballard Partners has recruited State Department veteran Matt Bryza as a senior policy advisor.
Teneo has extended its contract with the Salama Bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation for an additional four months to July 31, adding another $1.8M in fees to the New York firm’s coffers.
The Syrian Kurdish militia recruits Jim Dornan Strategies to press Congress for continued support in their battle against ISIS and Syrian president Bashar Assad.
The Government of Hungary has hired Strategic Improvisation Inc. to generate positive media coverage and combat negative press coverage of the Central European country. (6 reader comments)
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