Don’t Listen To ‘Hearsay’, We Only Sponsored 442 Delegates To Dubai For COP28 – FG

The Federal Government has given clarifications on the number of delegates it sponsored to Dubai for the COP28 climate summit.

Nigeria had one of the highest delegations to the conference, despite the rising poverty and hunger across the country.

The Federal Government has attracted criticism over Nigeria’s large delegation to Dubai for the COP28 climate summit, with many believing such a move amidst the suffering in the country showed those in power do not care.

However, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, said the Federal Government only sponsored 422 delegates out of the 1,411 Nigerians reported to be at the conference.

The Minister in a statement on Monday said 422 delegates were chosen from the Presidency, National Council on Climate Change, Federal Ministry of Environment, All Ministries, Office of the Vice President, National Assembly, and federal parastatals and agencies.

The statement, titled ‘Re: Nigeria At Cop-28’ noted, “It is imperative to point out that the overall Nigerian delegation to COP28 comprises government-sponsored (Federal and State Governments) and non-government-sponsored participants (from private companies to NGOs, CSOs, Media, academia, etc).

“The Federal Government-funded delegation is made up of a total of 422 persons: National Council on Climate Change (32); Federal Ministry of Environment (34); All Ministries (167); Presidency (67); Office of the Vice President (9); National Assembly (40); and Federal Parastatals/Agencies (73).

“As the biggest economy and most populous country in Africa, with a substantial extractive economy and extensive vulnerability to climate change, Nigeria has a significant stake in climate action, and our active and robust participation at COP is therefore not unwarranted.”