Contrary to public opnion, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim, representing Ondo South District in the 10th National Assembly, has defended the number of Nigerian delegates at the ongoing COP28 Climate Summit in Dubai.
The senator, who is also an All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, emphasized that the 422 persons funded by the government out of the total 1,411 registered delegates weren’t enough, considering Nigeria’s potential future hosting of the climate summit.
During a live appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today program, Senator Ibrahim argued that funding over 400 people to such a conference was minimal, and the number of delegates had an impact on knowledge sharing at the event.
He highlighted Nigeria’s vulnerability to the effects of environmental pollution and stated that President Bola Tinubu signed multimillion-dollar bilateral deals at the summit in the country’s interest.
Senator Ibrahim contended that the international community would not take President Tinubu seriously if he attended the summit in Dubai with a lean delegation.
The controversy surrounding the number of Nigerian delegates has sparked criticism on social media, with concerns about the economic challenges faced by citizens due to the removal of petrol subsidy in mid-2023.
Opposition political parties, including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and the Labour Party (LP), had called on the APC government to disclose the number of government-sponsored delegates.
On Monday, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, officially stated that the government funded 422 persons for the summit, with the remaining participants from the private sector and non-governmental organizations.
