As you settle into office, Honourable House Committee Chairman, Sir Tochukwu Okere, I note
with optimism that you have commenced a consultation round with Diaspora Stakeholders.
This can only mean that you have a desire to understand the Diaspora landscape, know the
issues and challenges as well as the opportunities and prospects. This is normal approach. But
not in Nigeria! Take it from a confirmed source that as basic as this gesture is, those before
you have never taken off in this manner. In Nigeria, we are used to commending people for
doing the job for which they are paid. I’m sure you don’t want me to do that. Instead let me
congratulate you for a start on your new appointment.
I want this note to be as brief as possible. I will therefore be short on details and precise on
facts but ready to engage further in areas requiring expatiation. To provide the basis for the
dynamics that led us to where we are on Nigerian Diaspora affairs and to where we are going,
I will crave your indulgence to precede it with a paintbrush of the Pre-2000 era.
Pre-2000 Era of Nigerian Diaspora Affairs
Historically, the first poll of Nigerian Diaspora left the shores of the country for study purposes.
The vast majority returned; a few stayed back for family reasons, including marriage to host
country nationals, raising a family, and career-related matters. The initial poll of migration out
of Nigeria was added to by the civil war-induced migration, some forced, others sponsored
again for study purposes. Return and remain pattern, and post studies were the same as the pioneer
group. Forced migration linked to military misrule, and economic hardship could be considered as
the third wave of Nigerian Diaspora build-up in Europe and the United States. This was
underscored by Nigerian exiles, fugitives, refugees and asylum seekers.
The major takeaway from this Nigerian Diaspora era is that these sojourning citizens were
loosely organised along ethnicity, political, and pressure group lines. There was no formal link
with the Government of Nigeria. Understandably so because of the low trust level or complete
absence of it. The infamous Umaru Dikko London abduction saga explains enough.
Post-2000 Era
Following the return to civil rule after the 1999 elections, there was a realisation of the
quantum and quality of Nigerian Diaspora across the globe. A major characteristic of the group
is that they were still organised along ethnicity and interests. In itself, not a huge problem
except that they were often in competition, not collaboration, with one another. There was
also the absence of a formal channel of communication with the Government. Given the deep division
within the Diaspora on how to be formally organised, the touring President-Elect, Chief
Olusegun Obasanjo, decided to have a series of Millennial Assemblies of Nigerians in the
Americas and in Europe on assumption of office. The two main questions to resolve were:
should the Government adopt/recognise a single existing organisation as the official partner of
the government on Diaspora affairs or make a clean start with a new entity? The verdict of the
Conferences attended by thousands of Nigerians anxious for a reinvigorated engagement with
fatherland were overwhelmingly to make a clean start. There lies the birth of Nigerians in
Diaspora Organisation (NIDO).
The challenges
The establishment of NIDO quickly threw up a few challenges, some of which were inevitable
while others are man-manufactured and therefore avoidable.
For a start, some strong influential, perhaps recalcitrant voices against the establishment of NIDO
never gave up their opposition, despite the fact that the decision was a democratically and
organically taken one. The NIDO opposition group was joined by some early NIDO enthusiasts
who could not play the NIDO democratic politics, having gotten used to the patriarchic
organising model prevalent in community organisations. They felt more comfortable opting
out of NIDO to compete with it. Government officials and political office holders tasked with
supporting NIDO or mandated to do so equally have pro-NIDO and anti-NIDO forces.
The most important conclusion to draw at this point is that the best-performing Chapters of
NIDO are in jurisdictions where there is a supportive Ambassador. Ukraine and later
Switzerland comes to mind. NIDO is also known to have made the most progress in times when
political office holders underwrite the notion of relating with NIDO as the official body and
encouraging other groups to collaborate rather than compete with it. We must equally take
something away from the fact that the passage of the Act for the establishment of the
Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) into law (a Bill) took place during the 8th
Assembly under a House Committee Chairman that honoured without reservation,
government policy of establishing a formal channel of communication with the Diaspora
through NIDO.
The elephant in the room
I make bold to ask, Honourable Chairman House Committee on Diaspora, how do you wish to
be remembered? This question is the elephant in the room. There are two broad options
open to you, organisationally and legislatively, if you ask me.
On the organisational side of the ledger, you could have your time in office be associated with
an era in Nigerian history that got the Nigerian Diaspora equitably organised. Yes, NIDO is as
of today the official representative of the Diaspora but who says that the representation as it
is today is cast in concrete and can’t be reviewed and made more wholesome for Nigeria. I’m
sure your round of consultations is giving you indications of necessary reforms. Is there a
reason your time in office can’t be credited with transparently organising the Diaspora table
boldly and audaciously? Yours must be an era when a political office holder is a Diaspora
galvaniser rather than a champion of divide and rule. Your era could be one that sees an
organised Diaspora population not as a threat to your personal ambitions but a value adding
asset to Nigeria.
On the legislative side of the ledger, history beckons you my Honourable Chairman House
Committee on Diaspora to end the current impunity and rascality whereby the Bill establishing
the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission stipulates that there shall be a Board with 12 Diaspora
members yet four years since its establishment, no such Board exists. Maintaining a cordial
working relationship with NIDCOM is absolutely desirable for your committee but so too is a
good relationship with the target group of the policy you are meant to provide oversight for.
You must resist any attempt by any side of these entities to pitch you against the other. You
need no permission from NIDO to relate with NIDCOM and vice versa. Your independence of
mind and thought in the execution of your oversight function will be critical to your success
as Chairman House Committee on Diaspora.
Still, on the legislative plank, I am aware that most people anchor their arguments for Diaspora
Voting on the US$23 Billion (on average) of annual Diaspora Remittances. While this is
substantial, Diaspora remittance remains today a welfare, consumption capital. As House
Chair you can change that into investment capital through bonds, infrastructure investment
funds, and so forth. Beyond that, I happen to believe that the strongest argument for Diaspora
Voting is that not making it happen is antithetical to democracy, if not an affront to the rule
of law. Making it happen will equally help to unlock the hidden potential for accelerating
the national development of Nigeria using the assets that the Diaspora brings to the table. Above
all, history will have your name and those of your House Committee members engraved in
gold if the 10th Assembly by your intentional leadership makes Diaspora Voting a reality.
Collins Nweke was Chief Executive of Nigerian Diaspora Organisation Europe prior to serving as Board Chairman from 2011 – 2013. A current third-term Green Municipal Legislator for Social Affairs at the Ostend City Council, Belgium, he is an Opinion Maker columnist for The Brussels Times and Foreign Policy Commentator/Global Affairs Analyst with a host of Afrocentric media houses. A Fellow & Vice President of the International Association of Research Scholars & Administrators, Collins is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Public Management of Nigeria.