THIS DAY
The Presidency on Monday officially cleared the air on the reported large number of Nigerian officials attending the on-going Climate Summit in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates saying the federal government only funded the trip of 422 delegates drawn from ministries, agencies and the National Assembly.
Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, in a statement entitled: “RE: NIGERIA AT COP-28”, disclosed that the Federal Government-funded delegation to COP-28 summit is made up of a total of 422 persons.
He gave the breakdown of the delegates to include 32 from National Council on Climate Change, Federal Ministry of Environment 34,
All other Ministries 167, Presidency 67,
Office of the Vice President 9, National Assembly 40 and Federal Parastatals/Agencies 73.
He pointed out that the overall Nigerian delegation to COP-28 comprises Government-sponsored (Federal and State Governments) and non-government-sponsored participants (from Private Companies, NGOs, CSOs, Media, academia, etc.
According to him, parties to the COP-28 Convention from Nigeria include government officials, representatives from the private sector, civil society, the voluntary sector, state governments, media, multilateral institutions, representatives of marginalised communities, and many others.
The Minister further justified the large Federal Government delegation stressing that 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”.
Idris also listed the gains of the COP-28 summit to Nigeria to include signing of accelerated energy performance agreement between Nigeria and Germany, unveiling the Nigeria Carbon Market Activation Plan by President Bola Tinubu and the President’s hosting of stakeholders and investors on the Nigeria Carbon Market and the Electric Buses Rollout Programme.
The Information and National Orientation Minister in the release stated, inter alia:
“The Federal Government has noted with interest the public conversation on the number of delegates from Nigeria attending the ongoing Climate Summit in Dubai, otherwise called COP-28, and the need to provide clarity in line with a standing pledge to conduct itself with transparency and accessibility regarding public information.
“The Convention of Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is the world’s pre-eminent Climate Change Conference, attended this year (COP-28) by more than 70,000 participants and delegates from over 100 countries. Nigeria’s representation is very much in line with our status as Africa’s leading Sovereign voice and player in climate action.
