Abuja — The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 general election, Atiku Abubakar has criticised what he described as Nigeria's large delegation to this year's #COP29 Climate summit, coming at a time the President Bola Tinubu is preaching austerity measures to reduce cost.
The COP29 climate summit is being held in Baku, Azerbaijan with an alleged delegation of 634 Nigerians attending on the federal government's funding.
The number of delegates that represented Nigeria in the 28 Conference of Parties (COP28) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) increased by more than fourfold when compared to the country's COP27 delegates in Egypt last year.
Nigeria's official delegation to COP27 last year was 120 persons, increasing from 87 in COP26 two years ago in Glasgow.
Last year's delegation of 590 persons under President Bola Tinubu, who removed subsidies on petroleum products and asked Nigerians to endure the attendant hardship resulting from the hike in the cost of living, is eliciting public outrage in the country.
Tinubu, who has repeatedly told Nigerians that the government's purse is lean, has been criticised by Nigerians for controversial expenditures embarked upon by his government including the funding for the large delegation to COP28.
In response to public criticisms, the government said it only funded 422 persons of the 590-person list that includes the president's son, Seyi Tinubu, and other individuals believed to have no significant roles in the climate conference.
The 422 people funded by the federal government under Tinubu are, however, more than triple the total number of official government delegations to COP27 last year (120) and COP26 in 2021 (87).
Condemning the large delegation to 2024, #COP, Atiku said in a statement by his media aide, Paul Ibe: "Under the stewardship of President Tinubu, Nigeria has sadly garnered notoriety on the global stage, setting Guinness World Records albeit for all the wrong reasons.
"A case in point is the size of the nation's delegations to international conferences and state visits, which have ballooned to staggering proportions.
"At the ongoing #COP29 climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, Nigeria proudly claims the title of Africa's largest delegation, with an astounding 634 individuals making the trip."
Quoting a Nigerian newspaper, Atiku said, "This monumental entourage has racked up a staggering N866 million in flight expenses alone.
"This comes hot on the heels of the 2023 #COP28 summit in Dubai, where President Tinubu's delegation swelled to an eye-popping 1,411 members. Not only did this extravagant "owambe" display earn Nigeria the dubious honour of the largest delegation from Africa, but it also positioned the nation as the third largest of all participating countries.
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"Ironically, amidst this lavish display of largesse, the very same administration is espousing the implementation of the Steve Oronsaye Report - an initiative ostensibly designed to streamline governance and reduce costs.
"In truth, as Daniel Bwala @BwalaDaniel astutely diagnosed, the current APC administration's approach to governance seems to be a contradiction in terms - preaching austerity while indulging in excess," Atiku said.
