Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the Chairman and CEO of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, announced that Nigeria has received nearly $99 billion from diaspora remittances in the past five years.
She highlighted the significant impact of the Diaspora community on national development, stating that their contributions cannot be overstated.
Speaking at the 2024 National Diaspora Day Celebrations in Abuja on Thursday, Dabiri-Erewa urged the Federal Government to place greater emphasis on the welfare of Nigerians abroad.
She said, “Let me also state that the contributions of the Diaspora community to national development cannot be over-emphasized.
“According to the World Bank statistics recently, Nigerians in the Diaspora have remitted over 99 billion US dollars into the system in the last five years. This is huge and highly commendable.
“So, this is a sector that we need to pay more attention to. We haven’t paid attention to it. We need to do a lot more. So we have to tap into the enormous resources we have with the diaspora. We are still scratching the surface. And that’s what I will say.”
Dabiri-Erewa also revealed that the efforts towards the amendment of the constitution to allow for diaspora voting have commenced with the introduction of a bill to that effect.
She expressed hope that the bill would pull through and that Nigerians in the diaspora would be allowed to participate in elections in the country.
She said, “It is worthy of note that the long-awaited Diaspora Voting, which has been a consistent topic of discussion among the Diaspora community, has now passed the first reading in the Parliament, which is a huge plus for this administration.
“The Bill was sponsored by no other persons than Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Hon. Sadiq Ango Abdulahi from Kano state.”
She also said the commission is collaborating with the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment to boost diaspora investments.
Dabiri-Erewa added, “Aimed at creating a window of opportunities for the Diaspora to invest in Nigeria. The Commission is collaborating with the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment to boost diaspora investments in the country by designing and creating different investment channels and negotiating long-term investment opportunities for our Diaspora in Nigeria. This is to facilitate Diaspora Direct Investment.”
