Former Anambra State Governor and Labour Party presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi, has criticised the reported spending of nine million dollars on foreign lobbyists, describing it as another example of Nigeria’s failure to prioritise human development.
In a personally signed statement issued on Friday, Obi said the decision to commit scarce public funds to managing Nigeria’s image abroad while critical social sectors remain underfunded reflected poor leadership choices rather than a shortage of resources.
According to him, Nigeria’s prolonged development challenges are self inflicted, noting that the country has remained in the low Human Development Index category for 35 years, from 1990 to 2025.
Obi contrasted Nigeria’s stagnation with countries such as China and Indonesia, which he said had successfully moved from low to medium and high human development levels through deliberate policy choices and effective leadership.
He stressed that development outcomes were shaped by decisions taken over time, adding that progress was not driven by miracles or natural endowments but by governance priorities.
Focusing on health, one of the key indicators of human development, Obi lamented Nigeria’s poor global rankings, stating that the country has one of the lowest life expectancy rates worldwide and remains among the nations with the highest maternal mortality figures.
He argued that funds reportedly spent on foreign lobbyists could have been redirected to strengthening the healthcare system through the purchase of critical equipment and improved hospital infrastructure.
According to Obi, the amount involved would be sufficient to fund the annual capital budget of at least one major teaching hospital in each geopolitical zone.
He concluded that Nigeria’s core problem lies in weak prioritisation, lack of discipline, and ineffective leadership, rather than insufficient financial resources.
