The Presidency says Nigeria will save 10 billion Naira from the measures taken to cut down on Conference of Parties, COP29, expenses, scheduled to take place in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan in November.
Briefing State House correspondents on the decision taken, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Chief Ajuri Ngelale, said the measures had become inevitable due to the country’s prevailing economic situation.
Chief Ngelale said as part of the cost-saving measures, government would no longer hire a pavilion which costs $5,000, adding that a delegation office will instead be set up inside the premises of the event.
He said some of the wasteful platforms that had given rise to consultancies and subcontracts for lighting and other technology provisions would be abandoned, as they could be provided directly by the National Council on Climate Change.
According to him, the cut down will be achieved through the provision and implementation of the climate accountability and transparency portal.
Chief Ngelale recalled with dismay, the criticisms which trailed the size of the delegation to last year’s COP 28, and the condemnation which dogged the entourage, with many describing it as unwieldy.
“Many Nigerians would recall that as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the federal government of Nigeria’s delegation to COP 28 in Dubai, UAE, last year, there were some elements of outcry concerning the size of the delegation.
“There was some deliberate misinformation, but the truth of the matter is, we also found that there were government officials who had no business at that meeting, and some with significant delegations.
“And in view of this, His Excellency, President bola Tinubu, had approved an audit to be undertaken of that exercise to fully understand and ascertain what happened and what must be done to ensure that what happened never repeats itself in this country.
“And as a result of that, within the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy on climate action, which I lead, and in the Office of the Director General, CEO of the National Council on climate change in the person of Dr Nkiruka Madukwe an exercise has been concluded detailing exactly what the expenditure profile was of COP 28 with a view to ensuring that we implement measures that would ensure whatever is spent ahead of COP 29 has a function that will lead to the economic empowerment of our people and the economic development of our nation” he said.
Chief Ngelale said it was based on those concerns that the National Council on Climate Change, in collaboration with his office, established the climate accountability and transparency portal, which will, among other things, ensure that all members of delegation across ministries, departments and agencies, including the legislative branch of government, will be captured on a transparent portal.
“This will mean that Nigerians will have full and real time access into the numbers of who is attending and those who government is sponsoring to COP 29.
“This will also ensure that anyone who is attending this conference has an economic imperative to be at that conference, engaging with companies, multilateral partners and stakeholders who will attract finance and opportunity into the country for the benefit of our people.
“Anyone who is not engaging in activities that are directly linked to the attraction of business opportunity, of finance into the country will not be part of the federal government’s delegation this time around.
“In addition to the portal, we found through our audit that during cop 28 in Dubai, there were significant expenditures made for the provision of platforms that proved to be, in our view, wasteful.
“So, ahead of COP 29 we have resolved and concluded that there will be no showcase pavilion as part of the federal government of Nigeria’s cost reduction efforts, we recognize that what can be achieved in a showcase pavilion can be achieved in a far more economically efficient mode by effectively utilizing the delegation office that is on site within the conference complex. And this we will do.”
“We have found that by taking that option, the nearly $500,000 showcase pavilion that was purchased for last year’s COP 28 will no longer be an item of expenditure in COP 29 in addition, the delegates office that we will be using to conduct bilateral meetings and other meetings that otherwise would have been conducted in the showcase pavilion, we will be conducting in a delegates office that will cost less than 10% of the cost of the showcase pavilion.
“This is the change that Nigerians have asked for. This is the change that President bola Ahmed Tinubu is giving to them,” he said.
He emphasised that President Tinubu was determined to ensure that Nigerians had confidence in the conduct of comprehensive audits of the administration’s missteps, with a view to resolving them.
Report By Bello Wakili
