Nigeria Raked in About $100b Diaspora Remittance in Five Years – Dabiri-Erewa
Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the chairman and chief executive officer of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission said the country has raked in about $100 billion from diaspora remittances in the last five years.
This is as she 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.
Dabiri-Erewa, who spoke at the opening of the 2024 National Diaspora Day Celebrations, said the contribution of the Diaspora community to national development cannot be over-emphasized.
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, the Nigerian Diaspora has remitted over 99 billion US dollars into the system in the last five years. This is huge and highly commendable.
In a chat with our correspondent, Dabiri-Erewa stressed that the Diaspora is one area that needs to pay more attention to.
She said: “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.”
On the much-expected diaspora voting Bill, she said the Bill which is been sponsored by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dr. Tajudeen Abbas has already scaled the first reading.
She said it is a huge plus for the administration.
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 disclosed that no fewer than 1,000 participants are expected at the 2-day 2024 diaspora day celebrations.
SOURCE: The Nation
