From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has alleged that exclusion of Nigeria from a trade talk between the United States and some African countries is because of the alleged failure of President Bola Tinubu’s economic policies.
In a statement by its interim National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, yesterday, it expressed concern over the decision of the US government to host the Presidents of Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania and Senegal for high-level commercial talks at the White House today, without extending an invitation to Nigeria.
The party stated that Nigeria’s exclusion from the economic dialogue is allegedly an “international indictment’ of President Tinubu’s administration. It noted that the import of the exclusion of Nigeria from the White House trade talks is that the country, under President Tinubu, is “no longer taken seriously.”
According to the ADC, “for years, African thought leaders have argued that it was about time that the Western World started to engage with African countries as trade partners rather than as hapless recipients of aid. Finally, an American President has emerged who is cutting aid and promoting trade. But Nigeria is not invited to the table.
“According to the Americans, the three-day meeting, which starts on Wednesday, is convened to explore commercial opportunities that could benefit both American companies and African partners. They said they have invited countries who have demonstrated ‘the ability, and willingness, to help itself.
“What this means in plain language is that under President Tinubu, Nigeria is no longer taken seriously. Although we are Africa’s largest economy, with the largest consumer market and Africa’s most influential diaspora, the United States chose to bypass us in favour of nations whose combined GDP is only a fraction of ours.
“With this snob, what the Americans are telling us is that size means nothing without leadership and a demonstrable commitment to efficiency, to transparency and to accountability.”
The party added that “only a few years ago, it would have been unthinkable that such a meeting would hold without Nigeria. This only shows how low this administration has brought our country in the estimation of the world.
“To add insult to injury, Nigeria is now being threatened by President Trump with a 10 percent tariff because of our association with BRICS, which started in January 2025. The ADC is not opposed to BRICS, but we are opposed to Nigeria punching below its weight by playing in the small league.
“Were Nigeria able to provide the leadership that other African countries expect of us, and which we have competently provided in recent past, we would have been invited to that meeting on Wednesday in Washington, and Nigeria would have used the opportunity to push the Africa Union (AU) position on global trade, especially given that our daughter, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala sits at the head of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).”
Furthermore, the ADC stated that under the All Progressives Congress (APC) led administration, Nigeria is no longer a respected regional leader in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
“Under this APC administration, once the acknowledged leader of the continent, Nigeria has become an afterthought, reduced to playing with back-water countries like St.Lucia, a country with less than 1 percent of our GDP and a population less than that of a rural local government in Nigeria.
“Yet, our president was able to spend an entire week in that country, for reasons that the government is still struggling to explain. The truth is that APC has not only stalled our economic progress, it has stripped us of the opportunity to sit at the table where real decisions, and real investments that could create jobs boost growth and improve our economy, are being made,” it stated.
