By Abdullahi Lukman
Nigeria’s delegation to the on-going climate summit in Belém, Brazil, has drawfed the delegates from many countries, including the United kingdom, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Russia, India and Germany.
According to the provisional figures of participation released by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate change (UNFCCC), Nigeria has 749 delagates, while United Kingdom (210), Sinagpore (180), Germany (162), UAE (94), India (87), and Russia (84) delegates.
The host country, Brazil, expectedly has the largest delegation of 3805 members, while the United States of America (USA) boycotted the global summit for the first time since it debuted in 1995.
Three countries that also joined the US by not sending delegations to the summit are Afghanistan, Myanmar, and San Marino.
According to the provisional figures, 56,118 delegates from 193 countries, plus the European Union, registered for the summit, making COP30 the second highest attended after COP28 with over 80,000 delegates.
This year’s climate summit also witnesses the largest number of online participants, with more than 5,000 people signed up to attend the talks online.
The top ten largest delegation, excluding the host country Brazil, are China (789), Nigeria (749), Indonesia (566), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (556), France (530), Chad (528), Australia (494), Tanzania (465), Japan (461), and Colombia (448).
Nigeria’s delegation is, however, divided into the party (472) and overflow (277), whereas China has 114 party and 675 overflow, Indonesia has 147 party and 419 overflow.
Meanwhile, a former Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi has condemned the Nigerian government for deploying such a huge delegation to the climate summit, calling it a costly misplacement of priorities amid widespread poverty in Nigeria.
Obi shared his reaction Saturday on his verified X account in a post titled “In Delegations, Nigeria competes well.”
The frontline politician noted that Nigeria’s delegation is nearly as large as China’s 789 representatives, despite significant disparities in economic strength and human development.
He stressed that while Nigeria should maintain a presence in global climate discussions, the size of the delegation is unjustifiable given that an estimated 150 million Nigerians live in multidimensional poverty and face daily challenges such as food insecurity, poor healthcare, and limited access to basic services.
Comparing the two countries, Obi pointed out that China’s GDP of $18.74 trillion dwarfs Nigeria’s slightly above $200 billion, with GDP per capita also vastly higher.
He added that Nigeria’s life expectancy remains at 54 years, far below China’s 79, and that 63 percent of Nigerians face multidimensional poverty compared with 3.9 percent of China’s population.
Obi argued that the resources used to fund such a large delegation would be better invested in healthcare, education, and social services.
He urged leaders to demonstrate responsible governance and ensure Nigeria’s global engagements reflect true commitment to citizens’ welfare, concluding that “a New Nigeria is possible.”
