The African Diaspora Union (AFRIDU), has appealed to the Nigerian government to consider the option of granting citizenship for African Descendants who were victims of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.
Speaking at a press briefing in Abuja Nigeria, the President of AFRIDU, Archbishop Chidiebere Anelechi Ogbu, said the descendants while willing to invest in Africa, would like to come home not as visitors or tourists but as citizens of Nigeria.
Archbishop Ogbu reiterated that AFRIDU was formed to bring closure to the decades of struggles by the Africans in the Diaspora, therefore the descendants are seeking inclusion in changing the political and economic narrative of Nigeria.
“Give us what we want and we give you what you want. 55 African countries and more are looking for investors and we have all of them. And we the black people of the world that are African descendants, that we have agreed business-wise, we will come to Nigeria with all our resources to invest if we are accepted, to say that we are fellow Nigerians,” he said.
AFRIDU Ambassador to the United States of America and Canada, Dr. Andre Moriel McClerklin, said that the descendants in the diaspora are determined to reconnect with their Nigerian family.
“We are prepared to bring all that we have with us. Our business capabilities, our financial portfolios, our intellectual properties and knowledge, our spiritual richness and vitality, and all that we have learned in the lands of our captivity,” he said.
Dr. Moriel added that they are ready to claim all that is lost in terms of land, language, and culture.
“Where our heart is, our treasure will surely be,” he added.
Also speaking, the CEO of the Delaware Black Chamber of Commerce, Ayanna Khan, appreciated the government of Nigeria for its openness to the conversation of Investment in Nigeria.
“I’m excited about this opportunity, I represent 100s of businesses in Delaware and we are excited for this opportunity where we can bring our capabilities, our innovation, our ideas, which we are ripe with innovations and ideas and we can do business in Nigeria with our family and not be judged by the color of our skin but by our capabilities,” she stated.
The Global Investment Summit is a platform inviting African Descendants investors globally to invest in Nigeria. It is slated to hold in October 2024.
