POVERTY
As reported by the LEADERSHIP newspaper on Sunday, a total of 1,411 delegates from Nigeria have registered to take part in the 28th Climate Change Summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The information, sourced from Carbon Brief, a UK-based website specializing in reporting on climate science, policy, and energy, revealed that Nigeria ranks third in terms of the highest number of registered participants at the summit.
This paper in the report also noted that apart from the cost of flying and parking the presidential jet in the United Arab Emirates for the duration of the conference, hundreds of millions of Naira would be needed for flight tickets for the majority who could not squeeze themselves into the presidential jet, adding that many more millions of Naira would also be needed for accommodation and feeding in Dubai, a city known to be one of the most expensive cities in the world.
The LEADERSHIP report also noted that an average ticket on Turkish and Ethiopian airlines is about $2,400 for a return ticket from Abuja to Dubai. With a prevailing rate of N1,160 at the parallel market, a return ticket would be about N2.78million according to this paper’s findings. Now multiply that by 1411, the number of delegates and you will arrive at the bank breaking figure of N3.923 billion for just flights alone.
This does not seem to be the right way for a cash strapped country to behave. Clearly, the large delegation will give a very wrong impression to the countries that we may be approaching for assistance and bailout. It is like a poor man killing a cow for his birthday while owing his Landlord rent.
