The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has criticised President Bola Tinubu’s administration over the reported approval of a $9 million lobbying contract in the United States, accusing the government of prioritising image laundering abroad over addressing Nigeria’s worsening economic hardship and security challenges at home.
The party described the expenditure as wasteful and insensitive, arguing that committing such a huge sum to a short-term public relations effort is unjustifiable at a time when millions of Nigerians are grappling with rising living costs, fuel scarcity, and limited access to basic social services.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) spokesman, Bolaji Abdullahi, described the decision as a glaring example of misplaced priorities, arguing that no African government had ever committed such an enormous sum to foreign lobbying while its citizens grappled with worsening economic and security challenges.
Abdullahi stated that while the ADC acknowledges the importance of projecting and defending Nigeria’s interests on the global stage, committing $9 million to image management at a time when millions of Nigerians cannot afford food, fuel, or basic healthcare reflects “moral blindness” and a profound failure of leadership.
According to him, the move underscored a government more concerned with polishing its image abroad than confronting the harsh realities facing its people at home.
He stressed that the decision as an implicit admission of diplomatic failure, noting that a government which has left several key ambassadorial positions vacant was now attempting to outsource core diplomatic responsibilities to foreign lobbyists.
Abdullahi warned that such an approach weakens Nigeria’s institutional credibility, undermines its foreign policy framework and reduces diplomacy to mere transactional propaganda, rather than a coherent and people-centred engagement with the international community.
