The House of Representatives committee on Diaspora says it was going to reintroduce the Diaspora Voting Bill which was rejected during the constitution amendment exercise.
The Chairman of the Committee Hon Tolulope Shadipe, stated this when the Chief Executive Officer of Nigerians in the Diaspora Commission NIDCOM, Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa, appeared before the committee to defend the commission’s 2023 budget.
Hon Shadipe said that the bill must eventually pass; because that is the direction the world is going.
She revealed that the committee is also looking at the issue of people of Nigerian descent who are not currently Nigerians but want to return home after DNA tests proved that they have ties to Nigeria.
“I’m talking about people of African descent who are known as Americans, who are known as people from the Caribbean Islands. We have people of African descent all over the world. And a lot of them want to return home. We want to give a platform for them to return home to Nigeria if they have Nigerian DNA in them”, Hon Shadipe said.
On the issue of NIDCOM being underfunded, Hon. Shadipe said that the committee had lobbied and made a case for it but nothing has been done about it but that the committee would continue to implore the leadership of the House to improve the funding.
The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NIDCOM Dr Abike Dabiri-Erewa, urged Nigerians to stop migrating to other countries if they don’t have jobs there.
According to her, eighty percent of prisoners in Dubai are Nigerians, who went there without jobs and got into trouble.
“How do you stop people from going and getting into trouble? You are leaving here to look for a job anyway and when you get there, you don’t get a job anyway and you come back worst than you left. So, I think that involves stronger and Multi-sector collaboration which I’m sure the parliament can drive” Mrs Erewa said.
Mrs Abike Dabiri Erewa stressed the need for a stronger multi-sector collaboration to stop the trend.
On Nigerians winning elections in the US, Mrs. Erewa said that the gesture speaks well about Nigerians in the Diaspora.
“Very exciting news coming from Nigerians in the Diaspora. And that is what we keep encouraging. Nigerians are great all over the world”, she said.
She added that the issue of Diaspora voting should not be ruled out as it might still happen.
Dominica Nwabufo
