Presidency cutting down COP29 participation expenses, to save Nigeria N10b – Ngelale

As the Nigerian delegation set to participate in the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference, Conference of Parties (COP29), scheduled to take place in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan in November, the Presidency has mapped out a number of measures designed to cut down the federal government expenditure.

According to the Presidency, these measures became necessary following the outcry over the size of Nigeria’s delegation on official engagements abroad.

Special adviser to the President on media and publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, gave the indication when he briefed newsmen at the presidential villa, Abuja, on Tuesday, where he revealed that the measure would save the government about N10 billion from the 11-day event.

He said the decision to cut down on the official expenditure is necessary to avert the embarrassing situation which played out at the COP28 which took place in Dubai last November.

Among the measures to save funds, he said the government will no longer hire a pavilion which costs $5,000 while a delegation office will be set up inside the premises.

He added that some of the wasteful platforms that give rise to consultancies and subcontracts for lighting and other technology provisions will be abandoned as they can be provided directly by the National Council on Climate Change.

According to him, the cutdown will be achieved through the provision and implementation of the climate accountability and transparency portal.

He 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.

He said: “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.