A Chieftain of the Labour Party and the Spokesperson for the Presidential Campaign Council of the party in the 2023 Presidential election, Tanko Yunusa, has challenged the Federal Government to publish the number of persons sponsored to attend the COP28 summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirate.
Tanko requested while appearing on Channels Television’s breakfast show, Sunrise Daily during the week.
The LP Chieftain said “The question we should ask is: Was there any way I communication by people of Nigeria that we are going with ‘x’ amount of numbers? There was no communication. So you could find it very difficult to understand exactly how they came about that particular number.
“There are various NGOs that have the opportunity to get international funding to sponsor their trips. But what we are saying is that the number of Nigeria delegates sponsored by the government should have been made public for us to know.”
There has been widespread criticism over the number of delegates from the country, attending the COP28 event in Dubai.
Many Nigerians have described the action of the government as insensitive, owing to current economic realities in the country.
Meanwhile, the presidency has shed light on the issue, noting that not all delegates were sponsored by the government.
Speaking on the development, Tanko maintained that the government should clarify if it indeed sponsored all delegates from the country, or not.
“If the government is saying that they didn’t sponsor all of the 1,411 delegates, let them give us the delegate number that the government-sponsored,” the LP chieftain insisted.
He however criticised the lack of communication and transparency from the government and suggested that the trip seemed more like an excursion
“Everything was kept in its crude and the only thing we saw was the number of 1,411 people going to Dubai for what I will call ‘Come, let us go and chop and relax’ rather than you ‘Come, let us go and make money for Nigeria’,” he said.
Emphasizing concerns about accountability, he claimed the government has a history of wasteful spending and a penchant for concealing information from the public.
“This is not the first time; they already have a track record and the people have accused the government of wasteful spending. So, they should have been more careful as regards when they were going to Dubai.
“But anyway, the problem is that the government itself does not care what the people feel. They hold them in distrust and these are some of the lies that are in the system that Nigerians are demanding for accountability he said.
