- With 1411 entourage and representatives, Nigeria has the third-highest number of delegates at the summit, a development that has sparked widespread criticism and condemnation from Nigerians.
The 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, on Sunday, says the humongous number of delegates from Nigeria at the ongoing COP28 Climate Summit in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), underscores the government indifference to the plight of Nigerians.
With 1411 entourage and representatives, Nigeria has the third-highest number of delegates at the summit, a development that has sparked widespread criticism and condemnation from Nigerians.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the ex-governor of Anambra State, faulted the Nigerian government decision to grace the summit with such number of delegates.
He described the decision as a waste of scarce resources by the Tinubu administration.
Obi lamented the “huge contingent” in Dubai at public expense at a time when most Nigerians can hardly afford food and basic needs.
“Nigeria’s contingent to COP28 totaled 1411, the same number as the Chinese contingents. While China’s budget for 2024 is about $4 trillion, about $2,860 per head; Nigeria’s budget is about $33 billion, about $165 per head,” Obi said.
“Nigeria has more people living in ‘Multi-Dimensional’ poverty than China, despite China having seven times our population.”
Obi said majority of those in the Nigerian delegation to COP28 are either non-relevant civil servants or relations of high government officials.
“This huge contingent is out at public expense at a time when most Nigerians can hardly afford food and basic needs as a result of economic hardship.
“As we have kept emphasizing, we must stop waste as a a tradition of our government and nation. We urgently need to cut the cost of governance and invest in production.
“We need to de-emphasize unnecessary ceremony and showmanship as a mode of government behaviour. We need to tie spending to necessity and national Priority. A New Nigeria is possible. We only need to do the reasonable and the necessary”
Meanwhile, a presidential aide, Temitope Ajayi, in a comment on Sunday, defended the delegation of the President to the summit, saying that “President Tinubu and other officials on the Federal government delegation are in Dubai for serious business not jamboree”.
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