The Minister of Information, Mohammed Idris, has said that the Federal Government only sponsored 422 delegates to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), COP28, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
He said this in a statement on Monday, amid reports that the Nigerian government sponsored 1,411 delegates to the climate conference.
“It is imperative to point 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),” Idris said.
He added, “The Federal Government-funded delegation is made up of a total of 422 persons, as follows: National Council on Climate Change = 32; Federal Ministry of Environment = 34; All Ministries = 167; Presidency = 67; Office of the Vice President = 9; National Assembly = 40; and Federal Parastatals/Agencies = 73.”
“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,” the minister further stated.
He stressed that COP28 presents an array of investment and partnership opportunities for the various sectors affected by climate change, and Nigeria is already benefiting from its ongoing participation, including the signing, with Germany, of an accelerated performance agreement to expedite the implementation of the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI) to improve Nigeria’s electricity supply.
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