The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has formally challenged the Federal Government to address glaring discrepancies between Nigerian and American descriptions of a newly signed health cooperation Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
The opposition party warns that if the U.S. version of the agreement is accurate, the deal may violate the Nigerian Constitution and undermine national sovereignty.
While the Nigerian government has promoted the MoU as an inclusive strategy to bolster primary healthcare, U.S. officials have reportedly referenced identity-based criteria that suggest a more selective approach.
In a statement released by the ADC’s National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the party called on the administration to “urgently clarify the contents and implications of the recently signed health cooperation Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Nigeria and the United States, following clearly conflicting public descriptions of the agreement issued by both governments.”
The party expressed alarm over U.S. characterizations that introduced “religious, identity-based framing, indicating that spending under the MoU should be targeted at health institutions backed by a particular religion only.”
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“It is the ADC’s considered view that the Nigerian government should not enter into any agreement that is sectional or potentially inimical to Nigeria’s constitutional commitment to inclusion and national unity,” the statement read. “We find it particularly curious that these troubling conditionalities, including those that grant the United States unilateral powers of termination, are conspicuously missing from the Federal Government’s public rendering of the agreement.”
The ADC argues that the divergence in messaging suggests a deliberate attempt to sidestep public oversight. According to the party, “Nigerians are entitled to know which version of this agreement reflects the actual terms that were signed, and why such consequential differences exist between Abuja’s account and Washington’s.”
The party grounded its opposition in the fundamental rights of Nigerian citizens, emphasizing that all international aid must align with domestic law.
The ADC insists that “partnerships must respect Nigeria’s diversity and must comply with our constitutional provisions prohibiting discrimination on the basis of religion or ethnicity.”
The statement cited the supreme law of the land: “For the avoidance of doubt, Section 42(1) states: ‘No citizen of Nigeria shall be discriminated against on the grounds of place of origin, sex, religion, or political opinion.’ Similarly, Sections 15 and 17 impose a duty on the state to promote national integration, eliminate discrimination, and guarantee equality of rights and opportunities for all citizens.”
On National Cohesion: “Therefore, any international agreement, or public framing of such an agreement, that appears to introduce identity-based distinctions into the provision of public services raises serious constitutional and national cohesion concerns,” the party warned.
A major point of contention for the ADC is the financial structure of the deal. Despite the U.S. apparently holding the power to pause or end the agreement, Nigeria is reportedly contributing a larger share of the funding.
The ADC noted: “The MoU states that the United States is expected to provide approximately two billion dollars in grant support over five years, while Nigeria has reportedly committed close to three billion dollars in domestic health financing over the same period.”
The party added that “it is difficult to justify an arrangement in which Nigeria bears the larger financial burden, yet decisions regarding target beneficiaries and the discretion to pause or terminate cooperation appear to rest outside the country.”
To resolve the confusion, the ADC is demanding that the Federal Government publish the unedited text of the agreement. The party wants to determine if the “identity-based and security-linked elements referenced by the United States form part of the agreement Nigeria actually signed or exist solely within foreign policy interpretations.”
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