President Muhammadu Buhari, Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations, Amina Mohammed and the Director General of World Trade Organization, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, are among the dignitaries slated to speak at the year’s National Diaspora Day celebration.
The Chairman/CEO, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, stated this while briefing newsmen Thursday in Abuja on the event.
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The federal government has designated July 25, every year as the National Diaspora Day. This year’s event, themed “Diaspora Integration for National Peace and Development” will be held via Webinar.
Dabiri-Erewa said also expected at the event are the Director General, National Design and Automotive Commission, Jelani Aliyu, who present the Nigerian Electric Car; Lt. Victor Agunbiade, who was awarded the medal for judiciously managing the US Navy’s largest oversea disbursement and Ikenna Nweke, a Nigerian student studying in Japan, who became famous after delivering a lost wallet to police.
The event, she said, would also provide a platform for the government to engage Nigerians in diaspora more constructively, be it at macro-economic level or in organized private sector for meaningful development.
She said the Diaspora Day was to celebrate eminent Nigerians who have distinguished themselves in their careers in the diaspora and were contributing to the growth of their home country.
Dabiri-Erewa noted that even though the country has witnessed over 20 percent reduction in diaspora remittances, Nigerians in diaspora have set up five hospitals in five states of the federation to positively impact the health care sector as well as investment in agriculture.
“A country with an estimated demography of about 17 million Nigerians living outside the sovereign boundaries of Nigeria, sending home remittances of about $25 billion US dollars annually, it becomes obvious that this segment of Nigerians deserves recognition and celebration and should not be ignored,” she said.
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