By Michael Agbaji
The Senate Committee on Nigeria Diaspora, NGO and Civil Society said they will support the Federal Government to upgrade the Nigeria Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) to full ministry.
The newly appointed Chairman Senate Committee on Diaspora ,NGOs and Civil Society, Sen. Michael Ana-Nnachi, made the suggestion in an interactive session with the management of the Commission led by Hon. Dr Abike Dabiri-Erewa to National Assembly in Abuja.
According to the committee, the Commission will be upgraded to a full Ministry in line with global practices, noted that India had to set up a full Ministry for Indians abroad for total inclusion of its diaspora.
They commended the huge volume of work of the Commission which they said, if be upgraded to full ministry they will act more rather than Commission.,
The Committee was apparently happy with the activities of the commission despite paucity of funds, wondered how it has been able to achieve such landmark achievements within the shortest period of its establishment.
However, they advised the federal Government to put more structures to engage more Diaspora and assure them that their investments are safe back home.
They further advised the Commission to consider having more attaché across all embassies, as well as Diaspora Desks since NiDCOM is a grassroot agency.
The Committee equally assured the Commission that the Senate will revisit the controversial issue of diaspora voting as well as issue of under funding of the Commission and advised the Commission to come by way of proposing amendments of the Commission’s Act to capture all the missing links especially on Diaspora remittances.
Responding, Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa briefed the Committee on the activities of the Commission and pleaded with the Committee for more support especially in the areas of appropriation as the Commission cannot achieve anything with N8 million overhead and N40 million capital yearly so as to meet up with its set-up mandates.
According to her,our is to get the work being done but there are numerous challenges, we need the support of this committee and we have to be intentional about overcoming them”, she appealed.
Other issues raised by the NIDCOM boss included the just rejected Diaspora Voting Bill, reassured the lawmakers that there was nothing to worry about it as smaller countries in Africa does diaspora voting.
Dabiri-Erewa used the opportunity to reiterate her appeals to Nigerians abroad to be good ambassadors of the country by respecting the laws of their host countries thus creating good image for the country
