Latest News
Popular News
Donation
Latest Events
- 27.02.2010 - 27.02.2010 | 13.00 General Meeting - ...
- 24.07.2010 - 28.07.2010 Diaspora Day 2010
Events' Calendar
Who's Online
We have 11 guests onlineVisitors
 | Today | 8 |
 | Yesterday | 132 |
 | This week | 140 |
 | This month | 693 |
 | All | 107024 |
| Officials disagree on proposed commission on Diaspora |
 |
 |
 |
| News - NIDO News | |||
| Written by Festus Owete - Next | |||
| Wednesday, 03 March 2010 07:00 | |||
|
Officials of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, and their counterparts in the National Planning Ministry on Tuesday, during a public hearing jointly conducted by the House of Representatives Committees on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, disagreed over a bill seeking the establishment of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDO). Chike Ohajuruwa, who is the director of protocols and legal matter of the foreign ministry, said the establishment of the commission would benefit the country because of the potentials of Nigerians abroad. No need for Commission However, the Minister of National Planning, Shamsudeen Usman, who was represented by Sylvester Mony, an Executive Secretary in the Ministry, said there are a number of existing institutions that can adequately function in place of the Commission if given the necessary incentive and financial backing. “Is there a need for a vocal institution to coordinate the activities of Nigerians in the Diaspora, yes; but is there a need for a commission, the answer is no. “We only need to give them more teeth. We have the infrastructure, the network and therefore, whatever it takes to harmonise the Nigerians in the Diaspora. I don’t see how it can function outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. What we need is to strengthen or create a department in the ministry to provide excellent service to them,” Mr. Mony said. He noted that the government’s overhead cost is already high, “and it won’t be effective or add value as the agency will rely on our embassies and other structures.” Commission will work However, Bolade Eyinla, a lecturer in the Department of History of the University of Ilorin, disagreed with Mr. Mony, saying “We pray strongly as a group of individuals that we must seek to coordinate the activities of Nigerians in the Diaspora.” Mr. Eyinla said the Nigerians in the Diaspora are highly trained and their professional skills should be tapped for the purpose of national development. He noted that the African Institute of Science and Technology is one of the examples of the contributions of Nigerians in Diaspora whereby all the lecturers are Nigerians in the Diaspora. The university don, however, debunked the claim that Nigerians in the Diaspora remit about $10 billion to the country annually, insisting it is more than that. Others who spoke at the hearing urged the federal government to provide harmonised policies on Diaspora in order for the country to benefit from the potentials of that category of Nigerians in the task of the nation’s development. They also cited the inefficiency of the foreign ministry in coordinating the affairs of the Nigerians in the Diaspora as a good reason for the establishment of the commission. Earlier on, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, while declaring the hearing open, said Nigerians in Diaspora were responsible for remission of $10 billion to the country annually and that the establishment of the commission would enable the nation benefit from their contributions. Chairperson of the Diaspora Committee, Abike Dabiri-Erewa in her speech, noted that the committee has recorded success since it was established and that Nigerians in Diaspora have an open access to the committee members.
|
