The Chairman/CEO,Nigerians in Diaspora Commission NiDCOM ,Hon Dr Abike Dabiri-Erewa said the contribution of the Nigerians living abroad to national development cannot be over-emphasized.She said Nigerians in Diaspora are known to be hard working, highly productive, patriotic, and resilient,and they are also pace setters in their different fields of endeavors.
“It therefore falls on us to celebrate our very best not minding that a few do fall below standard” she said.
NiDCOM Boss while celebrating Nigerians abroad said Nigeria has raked in over $99billion from diaspora remittances in the last five years.
Dabiri-Erewa disclosed this on Thursday at the opening ceremony of the 2024 National Diaspora Day Celebrations, holding in Abuja.
She said;“According to the World Bank statistics recently, the Nigerian Diaspora has 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 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.
NiDCOM Boss also revealed that the efforts towards the amendment of the constitution to allow for diaspora voting which has been a consistent topic of discussion among the Diaspora community, have commenced with the introduction of a bill to that effect.
She explained: “It is worthy of note that the long-awaited Diaspora Voting Bill which is been sponsored by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt Hon.Tajudeen Abbas and Hon Sadiq Ango Abdullahi has already scaled the first reading in the Parliament, which is a huge plus for this administration.
The National Diaspora Day Celebrations prescribed by the National Diaspora Policy is set aside to recognize, acknowledge and celebrate the over 20 million Nigerians in the Diaspora (both the modern and historic Diaspora) who are contributing immensely to national development.
No fewer than 1,000 participants are expected at 2-Day event which is 5th edition hosted by NiDCOM.
