Peter Obi Reacts to Nigeria’s Excessive Delegation To COP28

The presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 elections, Peter Obi, has reacted to the large delegation from Nigeria to COP28 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. He did this by expressing his opinions in a detailed post on his X account today, the 3rd of December 2023.   He started by congratulating the Nigerian government for matching Great China in an equal number of “contingents”, totalling 1411. He noted the vast difference in the economic budgets for 2024 of both countries in addition to other economic macro indices like HDI, poverty rate, and others, with China faring much better than Nigeria despite their larger population. He also mentioned a large number of non-official persons on the trip, which includes family, friends of government officials, as well as nonrelevant civil servants to the subject matter of the climate conference. Peter Obi, who is known for his advocacy of cutting the cost of governance, which he practised during his tenure as Anambra state governor, bemoaned the cost of such a large number of contingents on the economy. As an opposition figure, Mr Obi spoke truth to power on behalf of a populace suffering under economic hardship, largely due to the current administration’s policies and those of the previous government from the same ruling party. Policies like border closure and poorly timed and implemented subsidy removal, amongst others, have pushed Nigerians into record-high rates of inflation, unemployment, and poverty. Mr Obi said, “This huge contingent is out at public expense at a time when most Nigerians can hardly afford food and basic needs as a result of economic hardship. I pray earnestly that a day will come soon enough when we can focus on competing with China on productivity and the miracle of migrating the highest number of its citizens out of poverty over a relatively short time.” One can only hope that the Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led government will take the freely offered admonishment in good faith and work on the points raised. It would be in the best interest of the entire country for the government to drastically reduce its excessive spending on frivolities and noneconomic activities and instead turn towards the serious business of governance, which includes finding a pathway to economic recovery.