The Presidency has said that the government intends to save N10 billion by cutting expenditure in the United Nations Climate Change Conference, Conference of Parties (COP29) taking place in Baku, Azerbaijan, in November.
Speaking with State House correspondents on Tuesday, presidential spokesman Ajuri Ngelale said the move was necessary to avoid the embarrassment of COP28 which took place in Dubai last November.
Among the measures to save funds is that government will no longer hire a pavilion which costs $500,000. Also, a delegation office will be set up inside the premises.
Ngelale said some of the wasteful platforms that gave rise to consultancies and subcontracts for lighting and other technology provisions would not be used 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.
He said: “Many Nigerians would recall that on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the federal government’s delegation to COP 28 in Dubai, UAE, last year, there were some elements of outcry concerning the size of the delegation.
“There was 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.
“In view of this, 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.
“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 Nkeiruka 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 that 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.
“It is in view of that, that I’m here to inform the Nigerian people that the National Council on Climate Change, in collaboration with my office, has established the climate accountability and transparency portal which will, among other things, ensure that all members of delegation across ministries, departments and agencies, MDAs, and including even 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.”
