The chairman, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has said Nigerians living abroad remitted over $90 billion home in the last five years.
Dabiri-Erewa who also said Nigerians in the diaspora spent about N60 billion during their visits to the country in December 2024, said the monies were a testament to the diaspora’s growing impact on the Nigerian economy.
The NIDCOM boss stated this when she appeared before the National Assembly Joint Committee on Diaspora to defend the commission’s 2025 budget.
While praising the contributions of diaspora Nigerians and growing interest in investing and engaging in nation-building, she noted that over the last five years, the commission had made significant strides by thinking outside the box and prioritising the diaspora population.
She said: “We’ve reached a stage where in the last five years, we’ve shown that the diaspora is a powerful force, resource and we cannot ignore them. You know they are the number one ambassadors of our country.
“They will help us change the narrative of our country, and in fact, all over the world, everybody now wants to have a Nigerian as a friend. So let’s seize the moment. We can take over the world, and we will.
“President Bola Tinubu has brought in reforms that everybody should support. Tackling insecurity, building infrastructure, taking the hard decisions that will make Nigeria a better place, so it’s very simple.
“We have 17 million of them, and how much did this generate for the growth of the economy? Remittances alone in the last five years have been over $90 billion. his December, of course, you know, it is not less than N60 billion in what they spent coming to Nigeria. It could grow but it is just scratching the surface.”
Dabiri-Erewa also proposed the establishment of a Diaspora Plaza, which she said would serve as a hub for Nigerians abroad to connect, engage with government officials, and learn about opportunities within the country.
In his remarks, co-chairman of the committee, Senator Victor Umeh, expressed reservations over Nigeria’s readiness for diaspora voting and warned that allowing Nigerians in the diaspora to vote without reliable data and systems in place could have grave consequences.
While stressing the need for supporting NIDCOM financially to enable it to continue engaging the diaspora effectively, he assured that the committee would fight for an increase in funds for the commission in the 2025 budget.
Umeh said: “Funding has been the problem of NIDCOM, and we are determined as a parliament to support them and help them. In the 2024 appropriation, the provisions were very poor. The National Assembly worked hard to add something to their budget.
“This year again, we have seen how they operated last year under difficult circumstances, and again, we’re going to make moves for them, and we’ll call on Mr. President to pay particular attention to the diaspora community.
“Some of them are itching to come here and become part of the political process. Some of them want to vote, even from diaspora, to show you how interested they are about their country.
“We need to encourage them by way of making it possible for them to come here and invest their money, make profits, and then continue to help us develop our own economy, because they are very versatile.”
