COP28 Delegates: Analyst Doubts FG’s ‘Compassion’ For Suffering Masses
…Waste Of Resources Amid Hardship’, Obi Faults Number Of Nigerian Delegates At COP28
….Tell Nigerians how much was spent to sponsor delegates at COP28- PDP
A Professor of Political Science, Jideofor Adibe, has knocked the Federal Government over its “bloated” number of delegates at the COP28 Climate Summit in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Adibe, who spoke on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, said, with about 1,000 delegates sponsored by the government to the two-week summit, the compassion of the President Bola Tinubu administration to the hardship faced by Nigerians was doubtful.
The President had on November 29, 2023 departed Abuja for Dubai for the summit expected to end on December 12, 2023.
Controversy has since surrounded the number of Nigerian delegates at the summit which ranked that of China, with many Nigerians on social media berating the government for being “insensitive” to their economic sufferings occasioned by the removal of petrol subsidy mid-2023.
Adibe lamented that with the harsh economy, the Tinubu administration should lead by example and cut cost of governance.
He said, “Amid the binge on loans and borrowings, and the increasing hardship and increasing emigration of Nigerians, these things happening, is not just that it raises the question about fidelity to cutting down the cost of governance, but also the question of whether there is even compassion for suffering Nigerians because if there is compassion for what is going on in the country at the moment, people (government officials) should also be sensitive to the optics about the whole thing.”
The analyst said not just costs of flights of the officials in Dubai were funded by the government but their “Estacodes of about $900” daily and hotel costs for about two weeks of the summit.
The professor said the size of the President’s delegation should be on specific roles and it should not be more than three ministers.
He urged the President to set the tone that his administration abhors waste by sanctioning officials responsible for the large delegation in Dubai.
‘Waste Of Resources Amid Hardship’, Obi Faults Number Of Nigerian Delegates At COP28
The 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, on Sunday, faulted the number of Nigeria’s delegation at the COP28 Climate Summit in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
President Bola Tinubu had on November 29, 2023 departed Abuja for Dubai for the summit expected to end December 12, 2023.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the ex-governor of Anambra State, described sending over 1,000 persons to the summit 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”.
