Following backlash from Nigerians over the number of delegates that accompanied President Bola Tinubu to the COP28 Climate Summit in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, the senator representing Ondo South District in the National Assembly, Jimoh Ibrahim, has justified the large contingent, saying the 422 persons funded by the Nigerian government was even too small.
Nigerians were alerted to the fact that federal government had funded 1,411 delegates to the summit but after a massive cry out, Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, on Monday, came out to clear the air and stated that only 422 out of 1,411 delegates were funded by the government.
However, while reacting to the raging issue on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday, Sen. Ibrahim said the number of delegates from Nigeria had an influence on the multimillion-dollar bilateral deals signed by Tinubu at the summit which are all in Nigeria’s interest.
The lawmaker insisted that the international community wouldn’t take Tinubu as seriously if he had gone in Dubai with a lean delegation.
“Funding over 400 people to a conference like this is too small. You may want to host the conference sometime in future,” he stated
He added that the history of the country’s contingent to the summit could influence her hosting of the event in the near future as the number of delegates has an influence on knowledge sharing at the event, since Nigeria had been suffering from the impact of environmental pollution.
Ibrahim who is part of the ongoing COP 28, also stressed the need for African countries to sign climate change liability agreements with all developed countries that are responsible for carbon emissions on the continent due to damage caused by industrial waste and emissions in Nigeria and Africa.
