December 05, (THEWILL) – The Bishop of Atamunu Diocese, Methodist Church, Rt. Rev. Barr. Otuekong Ukut Phd, has faulted Nigeria’s huge delegation to the 28th session of the United Nations Climate Change Conference.
Recall that there has been an outrage over Nigeria’s contingent of 1411 delegates to the conference, which matched that of China and made the country join the top three countries with the largest delegation to the conference.
Although the Federal Government later explained that its delegation was 422, the Bishop said it was wrong for the Federal Government to send such a huge contingent despite the present economic challenges in the country.
The cleric described this act as a waste of the country’s scarce resources, saying the country is likely to sink into the abyss if this act of financial recklessness is not halted.
The cleric stated that the suffering of Nigerians is a result of fiscal policies of the Federal Government, which he claimed had worsened the situation of the average Nigerian.
Otuekong made the remarks after rounding off the Church convention, which hosted at least five thousand Christian faithful in Calabar.
“The present government has been taking steps not in consonance with raising the standard of living of the people.
“Over 40 million people are further below the poverty line because of economic policies taken by the Federal Government. I am talking about the micro and macro policies of the federal government.
“The middle level has been obliterated with over 40 million people living under the poverty line according to the United Nations statistics.
“This shows that the system we currently run can neither bring progress to this country nor lift us to a higher pedestal,” he said.
He also described the debt servicing effort of the country as an economic quagmire, which the nation plunged itself into.
The Methodist Bishop advocated for a decentralization of the Federal Government and putting its resources into sub-nations that could take care of her citizens.
About the Author
THEWILL Correspondent, Aniekan Bassey has over six years experience that spans across several fields in print journalism including development communication, sexual reproductive and health rights issues, crime, climate change, social justice, business and human interest stories.
