The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, says the number of Nigerian delegates at the ongoing COP28 Climate Summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), is a waste of resources.

President Bola Tinubu had, on Wednesday, November 29, departed Abuja for Dubai for the summit expected to end on December 12.

According to a list published by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), out of 81,027 delegates registered to attend the summit in person, Nigeria has 1,411 participants at the conference, the third-highest number, alongside China.

The list also showed that Nigeria has the highest number of registered delegates from Africa.

Reacting, Obi, in a series of posts on his X account on Sunday, said the vast majority of those in the Nigerian delegation to COP28 hardly understand or have anything to do with Climate Change.

The former governor of Anambra State stated that the huge number of Nigerian delegates in Dubai is at public expense at a time when most Nigerians can hardly afford food and basic needs as a result of economic hardship.

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Obi said: “In a twist of sad irony, 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 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. China has a high Human Development Index, HDI, with a ranking of 79 out of 191 countries measured, and Nigeria has a low HDI, with a ranking of 163 out of 191 countries measured.

“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.”

Obi, however, urged the government to cut the cost of governance and invest in production, saying: “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 emphasizing, 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. We only need to do the reasonable and the necessary.”

The Star