ABUJA, Nigeria – Mediaage NG News – With the uproar that greeted the large contingent of Nigerian delegates to the COP28 Summit in the United Arab Emirates, Dubai, International Analyst on Constitutional Governance, Barr. Mainasara Ibrahim Kogo Umar on Tuesday said it is important for every treaty signed by the Nigerian government must have a proven benefit on Nigerians and the nation’s economy.
There has been a backlash from majority of Nigerians, questioning the expenses incurred from the huge number of delegates attending the COP28 Summit, while many in the country are struggling to contain a day.
The United Nations say a total number of 1411 delegates are from Nigeria.
“My argument is not related to the number of delegates, but the impact of the large number in attendance. There’s a distinction between quality and quantity. If the number they are going with will translate into dividend of democracy, then all these brouhaha would not be raised”, Barr. Mainasara said while speaking with Mediaage NG News in Abuja, the Nigerian capital.
According to him, the Nigerian constitution which empowers the country to participate in international treaties and protect the interests of Nigerians and be involved in International discourse, also says no agreement or treaty will have the blessings and benefits of implementation without domesticating it.
“Section 12 says any agreement signed on behalf of Nigeria, either by the President, Minister or anybody, those treaties and agreements must be assembled before the Nigerian Senate for two-thirds approval from the floor before we can benefit from that. Under this, there is something that Nigeria is losing, he said.
“If you remember the trajectory of ex President Muhammadu Buhari’s international sojourn, he succeeded in signing over 800 treaties and agreements, but at the end of all these treaties, we have not seen anything on ground to justify those huge expenditure done in the name of Nigeria at the international forum.
“From ex President Buhari’s time till now, we have never benefited from that. The Attorneys general, Foreign Affairs ministers do not know the rationale for putting these together and brought before the National Assembly. That is the reason we have not been benefitting from all the signed treaties and agreements.
He cited the 1995 Beijing Conference where in his words “about 35 affirmative actions on women were made, but we are yet to implement that. Nigeria is under obligation to that. Again, Nigeria is under obligation to implement all the other treaties that we are signatory to.
“Nigeria should be prepared to receive whatever outcome from our membership with international bodies”, he added.