Nigerians in the diaspora have been positively contributing to the growth and development of the country’s economy, investing over $90 billion in the past five years.
According to the Nigerians in the Diaspora Commission, those citizens have vast resources abroad. In the past five years, they have brought home to Nigeria over $90 billion in economic investments.
Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) Secretary, Dr Yakubu Yakubu Bassi said, “So the diaspora phenomenon is an evolving phenomenon. It‘s not something that we can play around with. I‘m catalysing development in Nigeria, and it‘s contributing over 6% of our national GDP”.
Dr Sule Bassi, who spoke to journalists in Bauchi yesterday after he paid a courtesy visit to Bauchi state Governor Bala Mohammed, stressed the need for Nigerians in the diaspora to invest in the country’s agriculture, education, mineral resources, culture, and tourism sectors of the economy.
The commission secretary said that the Bauchi for sensitisation and advocacy is a national project which entails going from one geopolitical zone to the other while carrying it out in the five continents of the world, disclosing, “We have over 20 million Nigerians in the diaspora, consisting of the modern diaspora, over 18 million, and the historic African diaspora of two million”.
Dr Sule Yakubu Bassi explained that one of the competitive edge advantages of Nigerians today globally is that no party takes place anywhere without Nigerian music and dance being played.
“Jollof Rice is served in London as City Jollof. Masa is there in an African Kitchen in California. Agege Bread is in Canada and the U.S., taken by our diaspora, and they are multimillionaires and donors today. All we are saying is that while they are out there, they should come and invest at home and help catalyse development“, Bassi said.
He added, “We have already developed a national diaspora policy for Nigeria, and we are sensitising both the federal and state governments to engage with the diaspora first. You must engage with them.
“The Chinese are investing in Nigeria. So why not Nigerians who are in the diaspora? We have a very high rate of returns on investment in Nigeria, more than anywhere in the world. I assure you that anything you invest in Nigeria has a 40% return on investment. In other developed countries, it‘s 2% or 3%.”.
Responding, Governor Bala Mohammed noted that the visit is a cutting-edge phenomenon of development and diplomacy, which the Commission on diaspora is establishing, providing connectivity through sensitisation and advocacy for understanding between the diaspora population and the citizens of Nigeria who were their brothers and sisters, kith and kin.
The advantage of the connectivity, according to the governor, is drivable from that partnership and removal of the encumbrances, suspicion and mistrust, and misdemeanours that have hampered that kind of development in the past, observing that the commission working assiduously to make sure that they collapse all these impediments.
“And I‘m thrilled, as a subnational leader, that they are bringing the issue here because it will bring prosperity, it will relink us with our kith and kin, even from the historical perspective, and more than migration or immigration. Bauchi has a large diaspora population, especially in the medical field”, Governor Bala told Journalists.
Governor Mohammed expressed enthusiasm for the initiative and pledged to work closely with NIDCOM to harness opportunities for mutual benefit.
