The flagbearer of the Labour Party in the 2023 presidential polls, Peter Obi, has criticised Nigeria’s 1411-member delegation to the ongoing UN climate summit in Dubai.

In a statement on Sunday via his X account, Obi said, “In a twist of sad irony, let me congratulate the giant of Africa, Nigeria, for matching the great China, with the same number of contingents at COP28 in Dubai.

“While China’s budget for 2024 is about $4 trillion, Nigeria’s budget is about $33 billion. Most importantly, the vast majority of those in the Nigerian delegation…are either non-relevant civil servants or relations, friends and hangers-on of high government officials,” he lamented.

Obi queried the rationale behind the huge contingent attending the summit at public expense when “most of them hardly understand or have anything to do with climate change,” even as “most Nigerians can hardly afford food and basic needs.”

The former Anambra State governor hoped “a day will come soon enough when we can focus on competing with China on productivity and the miracle of migrating the highest number of citizens out of poverty.”

“As we have kept emphasising, we must stop waste as a tradition of our government and nation. We need to tie spending to necessity and national priority,” Obi advised.

He reiterated that “a new Nigeria is possible. We only need to do the reasonable and necessary.”