$9m Lobbying Spend Shows Misplaced Priorities, Obi Warns, Calls for Investment in Human Development

Former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, has criticised Nigeria’s leadership for what he described as a consistent preference for wasteful spending over investments in human development, arguing that the country’s deepening development crisis is the result of poor choices, not a shortage of resources.

In a statement he personally signed, Obi reacted to reports that about $9 million was spent on foreign lobbyists in Washington, describing the move as emblematic of a governance culture that focuses on managing international perception while domestic conditions worsen.

“This is merely a small example of wasteful spending that has contributed to our nation’s current failing status,” he said.

Obi noted that Nigeria has remained trapped in the low Human Development Index (HDI) category for 35 years, from 1990 to 2025, while countries such as China and Indonesia have progressed steadily. He recalled that Nigeria’s per capita income in 1990 was three times higher than China’s, yet China has since moved from low to medium and now high HDI status.

“The achievements of these nations were not the result of fate, miracles, or natural endowments, but rather a consequence of choices and the cumulative effects of good and bad leadership,” Obi said.

Addressing the health component of HDI, he described Nigeria’s global standing as alarming.

“Nigeria now has the lowest life expectancy in the world and ranks among the top two countries globally for maternal mortality, making childbirth one of the most precarious experiences for Nigerian women. Instead of investing in life-saving systems, we spend millions trying to obscure our failures,” he stated.

Obi argued that the $9 million spent on lobbyists could have been redirected to healthcare infrastructure, with a direct impact on citizens’ lives.

“This $9 million is sufficient to fund the entire 2024 capital budget for at least one major teaching hospital in each zone, enhancing survival rates, care, and life expectancy,” he said.

He stressed that Nigeria’s core challenge lies in weak prioritisation, lack of discipline and ineffective leadership, not in revenue constraints.

“Every naira of taxpayers’ money should serve the Nigerian people. Instead, citizens are dying in failing hospitals while the government pays foreigners to pretend that everything is fine. We cannot continue to live in an illusion while our reality deteriorates. This constant prioritization of trivial matters must come to an end,” Obi declared.

Opinion Nigeria News