Peter Obi condemns the massive size of Nigeria's contingent to the COP28 climate summit

FORMER Anambra State governor and 2023 presidential candidate Peter Obi condemned the massive size of Nigeria's contingent to the ongoing COP28 climate summit in Dubai saying that having a 1411-member delegation is wasteful.

President Bola Tinubu is currently attending the event being hosted in the United Arab Emirates but he went with a huge entourage. Governor Obi took to social media to condemn the size of the Nigerian contingent, saying that it could not be justified and was a drain on the nation's resources.

Governor Obi said: “Let me congratulate the giant of Africa, Nigeria, for matching the great China, with the same number of contingents at the ongoing COP28 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Nigeria’s contingent to COP28 totalled 1411, the same number as the Chinese contingents.”

However, he added that while China’s budget for 2024 is about $4trn, about $2,860 per head, Nigeria’s budget is about $33bn, about $165 per head. According to Governor Obi, China has a high human development index (HDI), with a ranking of 79 out of 191 countries measured, but Nigeria has a low one with a ranking of 163 out of 191 countries measured.

Governor Obi added: “Nigeria has more people living in multi-dimensional poverty than China, despite China having seven times our population. Most importantly, the vast majority of those in the Nigerian delegation to COP28 are either non-relevant civil servants or relations, friends and hangers-on of high government officials. Most of them hardly understand or have anything to do with climate change.

“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. I pray earnestly that a day will come soon enough when we can focus on competing with China on productivity and the miracle of migrating the highest number of its citizens out of poverty over a relatively short time.

“As we have kept emphasising, we must stop waste as 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 but we only need to do the reasonable and the necessary.”