The number of delegates representing Nigeria in the ongoing twenty-eighth Conference of Parties (COP28) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) increased by more than four folds when compared to the country’s COP27 delegates in Egypt last year, a PREMIUM TIMES analysis has shown.
Nigeria’s official delegation (i.e. ‘party’ badge holders) to COP27 last year was 120 persons, increasing from 87 in COP26 two years ago in Glasgow.
This 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.
Mr Tinubu, who has repeatedly told Nigerians that the government’s purse is lean, has been criticised by Nigerians for controversial expenditure embarked upon by his government including the funding for the large delegation to COP28.
In response to public criticisms, the government said…