Levick, the Washington based reputation management firm hired by Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan, has been severely criticized for taking on the job.
Jonathan had hired the PR firm when criticisms mounted on him for not doing enough to find and rescue the more than 200 girls kidnapped in Chibok, Borno State by the extremist group Boko Haram.
A campaign in the social media hashtagged #SomeoneTellLevick is being used to attack the firm for its $1.2 million deal with Jonathan. Co-founder of Transparency International, and one of the front liners in the #BringBackOurGirls campaign, Oby Ezekwesili is among those spearheading campaign against Levick’s work.
“How can @LEVICK earn filthy income on the back of innocent women (&men) that have stood everyday for 78 days demanding: #BringBackOurGirls?” Ezekwesili had tweeted.
According to Twitter analytics website, Topsy, the anti-Levick campaign has resulted in more than 5,000 individual tweets, most appearing to originate in Nigeria. In addition, there are also more than 6,000 tweets mentioning Levick’s handle, @Levick, on Twitter in the last two days.
Levick’s contract with the country was actually signed with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
However, the PR firm said the contract it has with Jonathan covers more than just public relations work. The firm explained that it is partnering with a high-profile human rights lawyer to provide legal advice on how best to combat Boko Haram.
Levick explained in a press statement released to the media that its work is part of a larger effort to create “real change” in Nigeria.
“As the world witnesses the brutality of Boko Haram, and its cowardly tactics of using children as pawns in their terrorist campaign, Levick’s only mission is assisting the Government of Nigeria with its number one priority — the rescue of the girls and combating terrorism,” the statement read.
Some pro-Jonathan people on twitter have countered the #SomeoneTellLevick hashtag campaign, praising and defending the president for his “efforts”.
The All Progressives Congress (APC), the main opposition party to the incumbent and a staunch supporter of the “Back Our Girls” movement in Nigeria, had earlier hired public relations giant Burson-Marsteller to arrange a single meeting in Washington D.C., according to a filing with the Justice Department under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
“The firm was originally approached to support a one-off visit to Washington, D.C. by the co-founder of the ‘Bring Back Your [sic] Girls’ campaign and other APC officials. But the visit was called off,” a spokeswoman from Burson-Marsteller wrote in an email, published in Washington Post. “We are in the process of de-registering with FARA [the Foreign Agents Registration Act].”
According to the spokesperson, the one-month, $100,000 contract was abandoned after the meeting was cancelled.
