The Senior Special Assistant to President Bola Tinubu on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, has revealed why Nigeria sent 1,411 delegates to the ongoing COP28 Climate Change Summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
This is in reaction to the public outrage that greeted the number of Nigerian delegates to the Climate Change summit.
Many Nigerians on social media demanded the reason for the inclusion of some names on the purported list.
Reacting to the outrage in an article titled ‘Nigeria at COP28: Separating the facts from fiction‘, the presidential aide said Nigeria’s 1,411 delegates at the ongoing COP28 in Dubai were not all government-funded.
In a statement on Sunday, the presidential aide said the Nigeria delegation includes civil society members, business persons and others with different roles to play at the conference.
Ajayi added that the Nigerian delegation includes youth organisations, business leaders, environmentalists, climate activists and journalists.
He, however, did not state the exact number of delegates being funded by the government amidst speculations that over 600 were government-funded.
He said: “In Nigeria, like so many other countries, interested parties comprising government officials from both the Federal and sub-national governments, business leaders, environmentalists, climate activists and journalists are present in Dubai. Also participating are agencies of government such as the NNPC and its subsidiaries, the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, NIMASA, and NDDC.
“Many youth organisations from Nigeria, especially from the Northern and Niger-Delta regions whose lives and livelihoods are most impacted by desert encroachment and hydrocarbon activities, are also represented.
“The President of Ijaw Youth Council, Jonathan Lokpobiri, leads a pan-Ijaw delegation of more than 15 people who registered as parties from Nigeria. Among delegates from Nigeria are also over 20 journalists from various media houses.“