The House of Representatives on Tuesday unveiled plans to probe the diaspora remittances with the view to ascertain the actual amount remitted by Nigerians in Diaspora and its Impact on the nation’s economy.
The resolution was passed sequel to the adoption of a motion sponsored by Hon. Tolulope Akande-Sadipe, who expressed concern over the conflicting amounts reeled out by various agencies.
She noted that the World Bank estimated that global remittances grew by 10 percent from $633 billion in 2017 to $689 billion in 2018, with developing countries receiving 77 percent or $528 billion of the total inflows.
“The House is informed that Egypt and Nigeria accounted for the largest inflows of remittances into Africa in 2018 with Nigeria leading in the Continent in terms of remittance receipts in 2017, and according to the United Nations official records, there are 1.24 million migrants from Nigerians in the diaspora and the World Bank Report also showed ‘that the Indian diaspora sent a whopping USD79 billion back home in 2018, making India the world’s top recipient of remittances and at the growth rate of 14 percent in inward remittances, India has registered significant growth in the flow of remittances over the last 3 years, from USD $62.7 billion in 2016 to USD $65.3 billion in 2017, remittances reached the $79 billion mark by 2018’.
ALSO READ: NASS may pass 2020 budget next week Wednesday ― Lawan
“The House is also informed that Nigeria accounts for over a third of migrant remittances flows to Sub-Saharan Africa estimated to have amounted to US$23.63 billion in 2018, and represented 6.1 percent of Nigeria’s GDP which translated to 83 percent of the Federal Government’s budget in 2018 and 11 times the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows in the country within the period and was 7 times larger than the US$3.4 billion received in 2017 as foreign aid.
“The House also notes that the estimates that migrants remitted to Nigeria could grow to US$25.5bn, US$29.8bn and US$34.8bn in 2019, 2021 and 2023 respectively and over a 15-year period, total remittances flows to Nigeria would grow by almost double in size from US$18.37 billion in 2009 to US$34.89 billion in 2023.
“The House is concerned that since many transactions are unrecorded or take place through informal channels, the actual amount of remittance flows into the country is arguably higher; as in 2018, diaspora remittances to Nigeria was equal to US$25 billion, representing 6.1 % of the GDP, which also represented 14 percent year-on-year growth from the $22 billion receipt in 2017.
“The House is cognizant of the strategic importance of Nigerians in the diaspora, the Federal Government, in 2017 established the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) to engage and utilise their human, capital and material resources in the socio-economic, cultural and political development of Nigeria.
“The House is aware of reports by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) that remittances from Nigerians in the Diaspora rose from $3.24 billion in 2013 to approximately $25.08 billion in 2018, a raise of 126% in 6 years amounting to an estimated $96.5billion sent to the country,” she said.
To this end, the House mandated the joint Committees on Diaspora, Banking and Currency, National Planning and Economic Development to interface with the Nigerians in the Diaspora Commission, Central Bank of Nigeria, Money Transfer Operators and other stakeholders to investigate the actual amount of remittances in the last three years and report back within 4 weeks for further legislative action.
and then