A leaked brochure exposes how NGOs tied to Bill Gates, the CIA, and MI6 are embedded in Nigeria’s legislative process—drafting laws on health, food, and security.
Recent revelations from a leaked brochure suggest a deeply concerning level of foreign entanglement in Nigeria’s legislative processes. The document, obtained by West Africa Weekly and produced for the 10th National Assembly (NASS) Open Week, lists several international organizations as “development partners” with alarming connections.
Among these partners are the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the parent agency of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service (SIS/MI6); the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), funded by the MacArthur Foundation; Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS), a German state-funded political foundation with a “long history of CIA collaboration”; and YIAGA Africa, financially supported by the CIA’s alleged “regime-change cutout,” the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).
These organizations aren’t just advising; they’re reportedly “directly involved in drafting legislation with major national security significance,” including bills on state policing, security sector reforms, local government autonomy, the Petroleum Industry Act, tax reform modernization, and the formulation of national healthcare and food security policy. This level of participation, under the guise of civil society and development work, raises serious questions about Nigeria’s sovereignty and legislative independence. It suggests foreign entities might be leveraging funding to “embed themselves within the strategy and execution layers of the Nigerian government.”
Despite these concerns, the National Assembly has lauded these partnerships as “beneficial,” claiming they have “strengthened legislative capacity, promoted inclusion, and enriched perspectives.”
Even more specifically, a section of the brochure focusing on “Strengthening Multisectoral Synergy in Nutrition and Food Security” reveals an overwhelming presence of the Gates Foundation and its proxies. On a nine-member panel discussing Nigeria’s food policy, at least six participants were directly linked to Bill Gates’ interests. This includes Ekenem Isichei, Deputy Director at the Gates Foundation; Michael Ojo, Country Director of the Gates-funded Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN); and Sunday Okoronkwo, Executive Secretary of the Gates-funded Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (SUNN). Even UNICEF, a longtime “funding beneficiary” of the Gates Foundation, had a representative on the panel. Other panelists were also “known to enjoy a close working relationship with the Gates-funded Management Sciences for Health (MSH),” or associated with Gates-funded initiatives.
This documented “overwhelming presence” provides compelling evidence that foreign actors are not merely offering advice but are actively participating in shaping Nigeria’s most critical policies, from health and nutrition to security and economic frameworks. Such deep foreign involvement, particularly from entities with intelligence ties, poses a significant challenge to Nigeria’s aspirations as a continental hegemon and raises critical questions about whose interests are truly being served in the nation’s legislative outcomes.