•Jideofor Adibe and Tinubu
A Professor of Political Science, Jideofor Adibe, has knocked the federal government over its “bloated” number of delegates at the COP28 Climate Summit in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Adibe, who spoke on Channels Television last night, said, with about 1,000 delegates sponsored by the government to the two-week summit, the compassion of the President Bola Tinubu administration to the hardship faced by Nigerians was doubtful.
The president had on November 29, 2023 departed Abuja for Dubai for the summit expected to end on December 12, 2023.
Controversy has since surrounded the number of Nigerian delegates at the summit which ranked that of China, with many Nigerians on social media berating the government for being “insensitive” to their economic sufferings occasioned by the removal of petrol subsidy mid-2023.
Adibe lamented that with the harsh economy, the Tinubu administration should lead by example and cut the cost of governance.
He said, “Amid the binge on loans and borrowings, and the increasing hardship and increasing emigration of Nigerians, these things happening, is not just that it raises the question about fidelity to cutting down the cost of governance, but also the question of whether there is even compassion for suffering Nigerians because if there is compassion for what is going on in the country at the moment, people (government officials) should also be sensitive to the optics about the whole thing.”
The analyst said not just costs of flights of the officials in Dubai were funded by the government but their “Estacodes of about $900” daily and hotel costs for about two weeks of the summit.
The professor said the size of the president’s delegation should be on specific roles and it should not be more than three ministers.
He urged the president to set the tone that his administration abhors waste by sanctioning officials responsible for the large delegation in Dubai.
