Diaspora Commission Partners with Institute to Improve Remittances in Africa

The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission,  NiDCOM is to partner with the African Institute for Remittances, AIR towards improving remittances in Africa.

This was disclosed at a courtesy visit to NiDCOM, led by the Executive Director, African Institute for Remittances, Amadou Cisse in Abuja.

According to the Executive Director,  Nigeria, the largest recipient of remittances in Sub-Saharan Africa, with a well structured Diaspora Engagement Policy, is their major country of focus alongside Egypt.

“Dealing with Nigeria equals to addressing at least 75 per cent of the issues Africa face with remittances. This will impact the whole continent, ” he said

He also noted that the Institute has three main focus which are to regulate remittances and ensure its compliance with international regulations, to gather accurate data for tracking remittances and to create polices to develop remittances.

Cisse stated that NIDCOM being a key player in Diaspora Affairs not only in Nigeria but Africa would be a key stakeholder in driving the aims and objectives of the Institute.

Receiving the delegation on behalf of the Chairman, Nigerians in  Diaspora Commission, Dr. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the Secretary to the Commission,  Dr. Sule Yakubu Bassi, assured  the delegation of the Commission’s commitment to remittances development.

“The issue of remittance development has been on the front burner for NiDCOM. Studies have shown that 70 per cent of Nigeria Diaspora Remittances goes into consumption while only 30 per cent  goes into investment. Our goal is to see more percentage going into investments so the Diaspora can have more dividends to allocate to social consumption. To achieve that, the Commission has continued to partner with relevant stakeholders, consistently engaged the Diaspora and execute programmes tailored towards improving remittances” he said.

The African Institute for Remittances is a technical arm of the African Union designed to exclusively deal with issues of Remittances.

Confidence Okwuchi