At the just concluded National Diaspora Day 2023 celebrations held in Abuja, President Bola Tinubu revealed his plans for Nigerians in Diaspora. He was represented at the event by his Chief of Staff, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila.
“It is a great delight to address our over seventeen million Nigerians in the Diaspora as the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria for the very first time on this auspicious occasion of the celebrations of our National Diaspora Day 2023. The National Diaspora Policy 2021 prescribes July 25th annually as a day to celebrate Nigerians in the Diaspora by recognizing their contributions to National Development and networking them to Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government, State Diaspora Focal Point Officers (SDFPOs) and Civil Society Organzations (CSOs) in Nigeria.
The theme for this years celebrations “Consolidating Diaspora Engagement For National Development” is apt giving the fact that it births the new dawn in our political journey with the aim of strengthening our development in policies and programmes with our Diaspora Community across the globe for national development.
Let me re-iterate that government has held our Diaspora in high esteem and has worked hard in uplifting our engagements with them through:
The passage of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (Establishment) Act in 2017.
The establishment and take off of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission in 2019.
The approval and adoption of the National Diaspora Policy in 2021.
The Presidential Diaspora Town-hall meetings, which have now become a practice to fellowship with the Nigerians in the Diaspora during all Presidential official trips outside Nigeria. I was priviledged to participate at my first Presidential Diaspora Town Hall meeting in Paris, France last month and was happy o interact with our Diaspora. The vibrancy of that meeting was nostalgic and we fully look forward to engaging with our Diaspora at similar meetings in the future.
It is also gratifying to note that we have annually on July 25th celebrated the achievements of our Diaspora, many of whom are our Ambassadors uplifting the image of Nigeria in their host countries, excelling globally and contributing immensely to Nigeria’s development by their resources, talents, skills and global exposure. In 2022, our Diaspora home remittances through official channels stood at $21.9b, over 4 times the value of our Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). The Nigerians in the Diaspora are also actively investing in our Healthcare, Agriculture, Education, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Housing and Real Estate, Sports, Transportation, Oil and Gas and other sectors. This I must say is commendable and in our enlightened self-interest as only Nigerians both at home and abroad can develop Nigeria.
It is worthy of note that this year’s Diaspora Day celebration is a special one owing to the new initiatives by the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) to further celebrate the amazing contributions of our Diaspora Champions with the introduction of the maiden edition of NATIONAL DIASPORA MERIT AWARDS. This initiative will not only serve as a morale booster for the Diaspora community but will also encourage Diaspora engagement and participation for national development.
Let me commend the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) for its dynamic engagements with the Diaspora community especially in coming up with laudable programmes for Nigerians in Diaspora to invest at home. I believe in the years to come, these programmes will impact tremendously on our economy by catalysing our developmental efforts. May I therefore encourage you to key into these programmes for our mutual benefits.
May I also let you know that this new democratically elected government is a Diaspora friendly one, which will provide an enabling platform for effective policies for the Diaspora with the view to galvanising support for the new administration and concretising our democracy, setting a good example for other African countries to emulate.
Let me also let you know that we will look at the Challenges NiDCOM has enumerated with a view to ameliorating same so that we will harvest maximally the benefits of our engagements with our Diaspora for national development.
I therefore congratulate all Nigerians in the Diaspora and those at home on the auspicious occasion of the celebrations of the National Diaspora Day and Diaspora Merit Awards 2023.”
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