The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has raised concerns and questioned President Bola Ahmed Tinubu regarding the “excessively large” delegation of 1,411 individuals attending the Conference of the Parties (COP28) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
According to the PDP, this incident further affirms that the APC administration led by Tinubu is wasteful, frivolous, and reckless in the utilization of the nation’s limited resources. This comes at a time when Nigerians are urging prudent resource management to achieve essential infrastructural development, job creation, and economic revitalization.
In its statement released on Sunday, December 3rd, the opposition party rejected the Presidency’s attempt to justify the “excessively large” delegation. The PDP dismissed the notion that the delegation comprises genuine sub-national officials, businesses, journalists, and civil society representatives traveling at their own expense. Instead, the party contends that the delegation includes cronies, mistresses, and other irrelevant individuals associated with the Presidency, attending at the government’s expense, with no meaningful contribution to the Conference.
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“Our Party and all well-meaning Nigerians are appalled by the level of profligacy inherent in the APC administration whose actions and policies so far are skewed towards the promotion and institutionalization of corruption.
“The attempt to deceive Nigerians even when the list of the delegation is in the public domain, shows that the APC administration is irredeemably depraved.
“We ask, why would a country whose citizens are dying daily from inability to purchase necessities be willing to fritter its resources and scarce foreign exchange in such a manner? It only points to the fact that this administration is not interested in the good of the generality of our citizens but for a select few positioned to fleece the nation’s resources.
“Our Party challenges the Presidency to come clean by making public the names of the official delegation sponsored by the Federal Government to the Conference, the relevance of such individuals to the Conference and the total cost of such sponsorship on the nation. Of course, Nigerians have the list and they know the genuine, officials of sub-national governments and other self-sponsored entities at the Conference,” the statement partly read.
The PDP through its spokesman, Hon. Debo Ologunagba, called on the National Assembly, pursuant to its Constitutional duty under Section 88 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) which empowers it to investigate and expose corruption by any organ of Government, to immediately commence investigation into “this embarrassing revelation” and impose appropriate sanction on anyone or Institution found culpable in that regard.
The Party also demanded that President Tinubu should be ready to refund any Federal Government fund improperly spent to sponsor any individual who has no relevance at the Conference, noting that such funds should be channeled to projects that have direct bearing on the wellbeing of Nigerians.