The African Democratic Congress (ADC) said the latest travel advisory from the United States government, which classifies Nigeria as a Level 3 ‘Reconsider Travel’ destination, is an indictment on President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
ADC in a statement by the interim National Publicity Secretary Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, noted that US advisory explicitly mentioned the collapse of Nigeria’s healthcare infrastructure and the inability of the government to guarantee the most basic emergency services.
The party stated that the advisory said that medical facilities in Nigeria “are generally not equipped to U.S. standards,” and that “many medications are unavailable.”
According to the ADC, foreigners were being told to consider evacuation insurance before they arrive.
The party said what makes this situation even more shameful is that Nigeria currently has no accredited ambassador in Washington D.C., where damaging advisory was issued.
It recalled that it had raised the alarm on this dangerous diplomatic vacuum few days ago, but “were met with smug indifference and bureaucratic deflection from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who claimed, quite absurdly, that the failure was due to some reforms despite reports from the same ministry earlier this year that the list of ambassadorial nominees had already been submitted to the President for approval.”
ADC regretted that at a time when the image of the country is under assault and foreign confidence in the systems is plummeting, “Nigeria is voiceless at the world’s most important tables thanks to the Tinubu administration.
“Not even during the civil war did Nigeria not have ambassadors in place for so long.”
The party further noted that since the ambassadors were recalled in October 2023, five of the G7 countries have changed their leaders.
“Yet, Nigeria has had no high-level diplomat in place to engage their new administrations to secure our interests in their foreign and investment agendas.
“This has not just been a missed opportunity, it has been an outright diplomatic failure,” the party said.
ADC noted that the administration said the delay in the appointment of ambassadors was because it wants to ensure “merit, competence, and integrity” in its diplomatic appointments, but stated that this excuse is “hollow coming from a government whose appointment history reveals anything but merit.
“If this administration truly believes in competence, then let it prove it by doing the work, not delivering platitudes.”
