*Hon Abike Dabiri-Erewa*
“It will be recalled that the first ever celebration of National Diaspora Day took place in 2006 while the second took place in 2008 and this has increased the high level of financial remittances from $10 billion in 2003 to over $25 billion to Nigeria alone by December 2018. The highest in Africa with over 25 per cent remittances to Africa coming to Nigeria. This shows that President Muhammadu Buhari has taken issue of Nigerians in the Diaspora more seriously than previous Presidents had taken them.”
*BEING THE WELCOME ADDRESS OF HON. ABIKE DABIRI-EREWA, CHAIRMAN/CEO, NIGERIANS IN DIASPORA COMMISSION (NIDCOM), ABUJA DURING THE 2019 NATIONAL DIASPORA DAY ON THURSDAY JULY 25, 2019 AT PTDF CONFERENCE HALL, ABUJA.*
1.0 Protocols
2.0 I am highly delighted to welcome you all to the 2019 National Diaspora Day being the maiden one we are hosting since the creation of the Commission. So, it is my honour on behalf of the government and good people of Nigerians to welcome back home our distinguished diasporans from all over the world to this years’ Diaspora Day.
The Federal Government has declared 25th July, every year, as a date set aside to recognise and appraise Nigerians in the Diaspora on their contributions to national development. This is to ensure dialogue and constructive interface between Nigerian professionals and experts in the Diaspora on development challenges and opportunities.
3.0 The 2019 National Diaspora Day is organised by the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) in collaboration with the Nigerians in Diaspora Organization (NIDO), the Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa (DTCA) and the Nigerians in Diaspora and Alumni Network (NiDAN). The theme of this year’s event: Power of the Nigerian Diaspora for National Developmentwas geared towards drawing professionals, experts in various fields, administrators, academia and government officials in Nigeria and Diaspora, to interface on diaspora-related issues and proffer solutions towards National development.
4.0. Establishment of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission: Permit me to reflect on the need for the establishment of the Commission. Over the past 20 years, with the massive exodus of Nigerian professionals out of Nigeria, labelled the ‘brain drain’ various initiatives were suggested to stem the tide including persuasion through the media, stringent visa requirements and others. This did not deter nor abate the trend due to the globalised nature of the world and the economic push-pull factors.
It was therefore proposed that initiatives and strategies be put in place for a meaningful interaction with the Diaspora to reverse the trend by turning it to brain gain and more recently brain circulation. This can only be achieved through a focal institution that will engage with the Diaspora on a continuous basis.
This needed link led to a call for the establishment of a Commission dedicated to understanding the Diaspora, understudying the phenomena, linking it to the country and engaging it to development issues without necessarily being an instrument of coercion as globalisation through the movement of people, goods and services are part of the fundamental human rights of citizens.
The call therefore for the setting up of a Diaspora Commission in Nigeria became imperative with the large numbers of professionals emigrating and this led to the processes leading to and the passage of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission bill in 2017.
The Bill titled the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (Establishment) Bill 2017 went through all the parliamentary processes and was passed by the House of Representatives on the 7th June 2016, the Senate on the 30th March 2017 and assented to by H.E President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR on the 21stJune 2017.
The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission is established within the confines of the three-point agenda of the Buhari government in terms of National Security, fighting Corruption and Economic Growth and Diversification. He also identified the Nigerian Diaspora as part and parcel of our population to bring about accelerated economic growth using their resources, intellect and global exposure. They are a real catalyst and asset for economic development of our country.
President Buhari has also institutionalised the Diaspora Consultative Forum to drive this, as in every of his foreign trips he has always held a town hall meeting with Nigerians in Diaspora be it in America, Europe, Asia, Africa and others. At these meetings he has always called on Nigerians in Diaspora to be law abiding in their host countries, be productive and excel in their respective fields of endeavours, remember home (Nigeria) and invest in its development.
President Muhammadu Buhari is the most Diaspora friendly President we have ever had to date.
The Commission became effective on 19th October 2018 with the appointments of the pioneer Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and the Secretary to the Commission (NIDCOM). The Commission therefore is a body corporate with perpetual succession and common seal.
5.0 The Making of National Diaspora Day: As we are all aware, every July 25 is the day set aside as Nigeria’s Diaspora Day. It is a day that has been set aside to celebrate and engage Nigerians in the Diaspora. It is a day meant to remind them about the need not to forget their roots. Behaviourally, Nigerians in the Diaspora are to constantly remember the sons of whom they are. They are to always remember the economic survival of their relations back home, and particularly, that East or West, home is home. It is from this perspective that any discussion of the Nigerian Diaspora is important in many ways. In this regard, who really is a Nigerian in the Diaspora? This question is relevant because the notion and conception of Diaspora has evolved over the years and this will be resolved in the new Diaspora Policy that is being fine-tuned for Nigerians soon.
Some renowned authors and commentators have also submitted that the `‘Nigerians abroad are among the best of minds in the field of technological developments. Given their integrity and resources in their various host countries and the scandalous image and economic crises the Nigerian state is burdened with, they have a role to play in the Nigerian foreign policy investment agenda. Most of these Nigerians in the Diaspora are competent and successful professionals’’.
6.0. Background to Nigerians in the Diaspora Day: Owing to proliferation of Nigerian groups abroad and the need to create an all –encompassing platform for all Nigerians in Diaspora which began as far back as 1988 with the setting up of a Presidential Committee to investigate the flows of migration of professionals. Nigerian professionals were perceived to abound in various nooks and crannies of the world.
The importance of the Diaspora from the foregoing cannot be over-emphasised. It is the importance of linkages created between Nigerians in the Diaspora on the one hand, and the needs for growing the development of Nigeria back home that prompted the translation of the conception of Nigerians in Diaspora into action in 1999.
It will be recalled that the first ever celebration of National Diaspora Day took place in 2006 while the second took place in 2008 and this has increased the high level of financial remittances from $10 billion in 2003 to over $25 billion to Nigeria alone by December 2018. The highest in Africa with over 25 per cent remittances to Africa coming to Nigeria. This shows that President Muhammadu Buhari has taken issue of Nigerians in the Diaspora more seriously than previous Presidents had taken them.
7.0 Conclusions:
Since the creation of the Commission, we had intervened in many areas of human endeavours to ease the task of our Diasporas and ready to do more within the ambit of the mandate establishing it.
I implore all our Diasporas to continue to be good Ambassadors and project the good name of the country wherever they may find themselves. We shall continue to celebrate our heroes and heroines in the Diaspora. It is in this light that I solicit for your cooperation and support in ensuring that the Commission attain its goals in the overall interest of all Nigerians both home and abroad.
May I use this opportunity to express my appreciation to His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari and Mr Boss Mustapha, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) for the necessary support and encouragement given to the commission since its establishment.
I also wish to thank all the various Diaspora groups in attendance, the LOC has been wonderful in putting this programme together, while all our resource persons especially our Guest Speaker, Dr Kayode Fayemi, Governor of Ekiti state and Chairman of Nigeria Governor’s Forum.
We appreciate all of you and I sincerely thank the management of PTDF for granting us the usage of its facility as well as all our sponsors. Once again, I thank you all for all you have done and are still doing to uplift the Diaspora commission globally and in Nigeria in particular.