The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has criticised the £746 million financing agreement signed during President Bola Tinubu’s state visit to the United Kingdom, describing it as a lopsided arrangement that favours the British economy while increasing Nigeria’s debt burden.
In a statement, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, said the agreement, presented by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as a diplomatic win, amounted to a commercial loan structured primarily to support UK manufacturing and jobs.
According to the ADC, the deal to rehabilitate the Tin Can and Apapa ports in Lagos is being financed through the UK’s export credit system, with guarantees provided by UK Export Finance under its Buyer Credit Facility and arranged by Citibank, N.A. London Branch.
The opposition party argued that such facilities typically require substantial UK content, meaning much of the funding either remains in Britain or is paid directly to British suppliers.
It believed that £236 million of the supplier contracts are expected to go to UK firms, while British Steel is to provide 120,000 tonnes of steel billets under a £70 million contract, its largest export order backed by UKEF.
“This arrangement has been framed as a diplomatic success, but it is, in substance, a loan with conditionalities that secure commercial benefits for the UK,” the statement said.
It added that the British government itself had described the deal as a vote of confidence in UK manufacturing.
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The ADC called on the Federal Government to publish the full terms of the agreement, including interest rates, repayment timelines and local content obligations.
It also asked for clarity on the scale of Nigerian participation, job creation, skills transfer, limits on expatriate labour and provisions for small and medium-sized enterprises.
The party questioned the value of the agreement at a time when many Nigerians are grappling with poverty, unemployment and insecurity, warning that the country risked committing to long-term financial obligations for limited domestic gain.
“If the government has clear answers to these questions, it should place them before Nigerians.
“Without that transparency, the agreement raises uncomfortable parallels with arrangements that prioritise symbolism over substance,” the statement added.
Separately, the Lagos and Zamfara state chapters of the ADC said they were not parties to a court action filed against the party’s leadership under former Senate President David Mark.
Both chapters restated their loyalty to the current leadership, saying it retained the confidence of party members ahead of the 2027 general elections.