‘Nigeria to have diaspora policy soon’

Nigeria has begun the process of joining the league of countries with National  Diaspora Policies, following the setting up of a technical team saddled with the task of coming up  with final draft of the policy in January, 2017.

This was the resolution of stakeholders after a seven- hour validation seminar in Abuja, on the 68-page draft policy, jointly organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and  the office of the Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora.

Declaring the seminar open, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama, said there was the need to promote the capacity of Nigerians abroad so as to benefit from the “immense potential of the diaspora”

Onyeama, who was represented by the permanent secretary of the ministry, Ambassador Sola Enikanolaiye, said the Federal Government would support all efforts to ensure the inclusion of Nigerians abroad in future elections.

Professor George Obiozor,  the former Nigerian Ambassador to the United States of America and Director- General, Nigerian Institute for International Affairs (NIIA), on the occasion, said the time for a national policy on  d iaspora has come.

“National Policy on Diaspora Matters would expedite the integration and coordination of the skills and resources of Nigerians living abroad for the general development of the country”, he said.

Both chairpersons, Senate Committees on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Monsurat Sunmonu and Rose Oko respectively, pledged legislative support, such as passage of the Diaspora Commission Bill and amendment of relevant laws to support diaspora voting.

Earlier, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Honourable Abike Dabiri-Erewa,  had   stressed the need to have a national diaspora policy,  adding that a number of African countries  are already ahead of Nigeria in that regard.

“We cannot ignore our diaspora; when Ireland went into recession, they reached out to their diaspora community and 1000 of them saved the country from recession. Now that Nigeria is going through challenges, we cannot have this enormous human resource and not engage with them”, she said.

She urged all Nigerians home and abroad to contribute to the final draft of the policy as a technical committee would be set up to work on the recommendations agreed on and come up with an action plan for implementation.