Abuja – The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa says Nigeria is working on a policy guideline to regulate all engagements with the Diaspora.
Dabiri-Erewa stated this on Thursday when Dr Senayon Olaoluwa, the Head, Diaspora and Transnational Studies Programme, Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan (UI) paid her a courtesy call in Abuja.
The Presidential aide explained that the policy when in place, would allow Nigerians in the Diaspora to make inputs in policies and programmes of the government.
Dabiri-Erewa stated that nothing much could be achieved without a workable policy framework to engage Nigerians in the Diaspora.
According to her, the Nigerians in the Diaspora are of high importance to the growth and development of the country.
“Diaspora is the future and it will dictate a lot of things in the 21st century. We will work with the intellectuals to ensure a better framework.
“We can’t be talking about a framework without a policy, so we are at a stage of formulating a Diaspora policy; we are working on a Diaspora policy.
“We are going to partner with you in the academics as we work on this policy framework to engage all Nigerians in Diaspora,” she said.
According to her, it is important that the Diasporas are part of the engagement, policies and programmes of government in spite that they are not home in Nigeria.
Dabiri-Erewa said that President Mohammadu Buhari was determined to create an enabling environment both for Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora to put hands together to make Nigeria a great country.
She, therefore, called on all Nigerians in the Diaspora to key into the President’s desire to engage them to be able to reposition the country.
Dabiri-Erewa also said that the Federal Government was prepared to partner with the proposed UI Diaspora Resource and Study Centre.
Earlier, Olaoluwa said that the institute was the first on the continent.
He added that efforts were ongoing to establish a world class Diaspora resource and study centre.
While stressing on the importance of Diaspora, Olaoluwa said history had shown that economic world powers derived their wealth from their Diasporas.
He said that there was the need to put in place modalities that would enhance the repatriation of resources of the Diaspora for the development of the nation
According to him, it is high time countries begin to look at a relationship between home country like Nigeria and what the nation can get out of the relationship.
“And it is a kind of mutual developmental agenda through which we think what has been lost that can be brought back because the Diaspora is basically and fundamentally not being at home,” he said. (NAN)
