NIGERIA RAKED IN ABOUT $100 BILLION DIASPORA REMITTANCE IN FIVE YEARS - NIDCOM BOSS

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The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission’s chairman and CEO, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, reported that during the previous five years, the nation received approximately $100 billion in remittances from its diaspora.

This comes as she also disclosed that a bill to that effect has been introduced, marking the beginning of the process to modify the constitution to permit voting by those living abroad.

Speaking during the commencement of the 2024 National Diaspora Day Celebrations, Dabiri-Erewa stated that the importance of the Diaspora community to the prosperity of the country cannot be overstated.

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.