Amid the hardship and downturn in the standard of living of Nigerians, the federal government went to the climate change conference in Dubai, the United Arab Emirate (UAE), with an unwieldy delegation. Reports have it that out of about 70,000 participants and delegates from over 100 countries, Nigeria came with 1,411 delegates. This happens to be the third largest delegation at this year’s Conference of Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The host country, UAE, has the largest delegation of 4,409 participants. Brazil came second with 3,081 delegates.
At 1,411, the number of our delegates equals that of China. But, we are in no way close to China in terms of population, development and wealth. China sent that large number because it could afford it. But can Nigeria boast of the same thing?
Later, the government clarified that it only sponsored 422 delegates drawn from ministries, agencies and the National Assembly. The other delegates are reportedly from the civil society organisations, private companies and the media. Even this number the government admitted sponsoring is high considering the enormity of challenges confronting the nation. Information and National Orientation Minister, Mohammed Idris, justified the large number of delegates on the lame excuse that as the biggest economy and most populous country in Africa, Nigeria has a significant stake in climate action.
True. But, we could still have achieved our purpose with a thin delegation. Many of Nigeria’s party delegates, comprising current and former ministers, presidential aides, among others, reportedly have no understanding of COP negotiation procedures. Some of them used the occasion to go for shopping and other things not related to the climate change conference.
The precarious state of our economy demands that we should be prudent in managing our macro and micro finances. We are among the leading poverty capitals of the world as over 133 million people live in multi-dimensional poverty. Hunger is a chronic disease in the country. People are dying in droves. Inflation is at all-time high. Unemployment has driven our young men and women into seeking greener pastures abroad. Many of them end up frustrated and dejected. Our total debt profile is over N87 trillion and still climbing.
President Bola Tinubu should watch it. His government has shown in just six months that it is not ready to discard profligacy associated with many past administrations. On his first visit to Lagos after his inauguration as President, Tinubu came with a large retinue of convoy that got the citizens bewildered. The same profligacy characterised his attendance at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York in September. So far, Tinubu has travelled to 10 countries at huge public expense. Even the 2023 supplementary budget contains a lot of items that could best be described as a complete waste. The present administration earmarked billions of naira for the renovation of the President and Vice-President’s residences in Abuja and Lagos, Presidential Yacht and purchase of exotic vehicles for the unconstitutional office of the First Lady, among many other frivolous expenses.
This administration has always called on Nigerians to tighten belt and endure the hardship in the country. Nigerians have sacrificed enough. The sudden removal of fuel subsidy worsened the precarious situation of many families. It raised the cost of living to an unbearable level. The least the citizens expect from a sensitive government is to show moderation in public expenditure by government officials.
We have made ourselves the laughing stock amid the challenges we are facing. The National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, said the other day that the present government inherited a terrible economy. We have been wooing foreign investors, asking them to come and invest in the country. How can they come when they see this kind of bazaar?
We appreciate the fact that President Tinubu went to Dubai for serious business. Nigeria was said to have been able to sign accelerated energy performance agreement between her and Germany. The President also reportedly unveiled Nigeria Carbon Market Activation Plan and hosted investors and stakeholders on Nigeria Carbon Market and Electronic Buses Rollout Programme.
But, all these have been drowned by the waste associated with the trip. Even the richest countries in the world don’t spend wastefully. In the United States, there are basic expenses the White House is meant to incur. Anything outside those basic expenses, the President and his family will pay. It is the same story in many other advanced democracies. Governance is a serious business. Public funds are not meant to be spent anyhow. We should drastically cut down on cost of governance.
A responsive National Assembly should be worried about what is going on. We are subsidizing the rich and this is not how to run a country. Nigeria is in a financial mess. Tinubu should sit down and retool his style. He should set his priorities right. What he is doing now with the resources of the country is not what Nigerians elected him to do. We condemn the jamboree in Dubai in strongest terms and urge the President to put a stop to that type of waste.