Nigeria has the highest number of registered delegates from Africa at the ongoing COP28 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
According to a list published by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Nigeria is also third-highest overall in number of delegates at the conference.
The provisional total for COP28 indicates that 81,027 delegates registered to attend the summit in person. With a further 3,074 attending virtually, this takes the overall total to 84,101, a report released on Friday by Carbon Brief said.
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The figure is 30,000 more than those who travelled to Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt for COP27 in 2022, the previous largest in an almost 30-year history of summits.
The UAE accounted for the largest-ever registered delegation of any country, with 4,409 badges, followed by Brazil with 3,081.
Nigeria and China are joint third with 1,411 badges each.
Apart from government officials, staff of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and celebrities are among those who registered to attend the annual climate change conference.
President Bola Tinubu, who is in Dubai for the conference, is expected to deliver a national statement at the world leaders’ summit highlighting Nigeria’s stance on various thematic issues, including renewable energy and climate financing.
Number Of Delegation
The UAE has registered the largest delegation of any party, totalling 4,409 participants – including overflow badges. Even without overflow badges – which hugely swell delegation size – UAE’s group of 620 would be its largest in COP history.
The UAE’s registered delegation at COP27 last year was potentially larger at 1,073 people, but just 436 attended, according to the final lists, putting it second-largest behind Brazil’s delegation of 467.
Brazil has again registered a large delegation for this year’s COP – 3,081 participants including overflow badges – meaning it is only behind UAE for overall delegation size.
Other delegations surpassing 1,000 include China and Nigeria who have both registered 1,411 people, followed by Indonesia with 1,229, Japan 1,067 and Turkey with 1,045.
However, some users on X has criticised the decision by the Nigerian Government to travel with a very huge delegation.
Cthief Tinubu packed the entire APC members to a Climate Conference #Cop28 using money that we don’t even have.
A country in debt for God’s Sake.
You will think Nigeria was the host with the number of people Cthief Tinubu packed using Govt money.UAE is the host and so, have… pic.twitter.com/uWfhdHMeMz
— SERAH IBRAHIM (@TheSerahIbrahim) December 2, 2023
https://twitter.com/sama_on_point/status/1730960159915053248?t=Qfj3gWEH7i9wzKtkct8ILA&s=19
https://twitter.com/LRNZH/status/1730648864644907205?t=2RGZGRzRowXOPgrnv7A4JA&s=19
