Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, (NiDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa has identified and listed 5 key reasons why Nigerians are leaving the country in droves.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Dabiri-Erewa listed the 5 key reasons at a lecture she delivered on: “Migration, Diaspora and Africa’s Development at the National Defence College for Participants of Course 29 in Abuja.
Speaking at the event on Wednesday, the NiDCOM boss described migration as a natural phenomenon that cannot be stopped but that managed migration must be encouraged for positive impact on the migrant, the country of origin and the host country.
She maintained that the diaspora phenomena is the product of legitimate migration, hence the need for regular (legal) migration as opposed to irregular (illegal) migration.
She further stated that Nigeria is now experiencing the feminisation of migration, a situation where more women are getting involved than men in labour migration.
She revealed that her Commission was in high level talks with countries, especially those in Europe to mainstream migration issues for a win-win situation for both destination and departure countries.
The NiDCOM boss listed the 5 key factors driving migration from Nigeria to include: security, economic, environmental, socio- political and other pull and push factors.
On Nigeria diaspora population, Dabiri-Erewa said that an estimated 17 million Nigerians are scattered all over the world accomplishing excellent feats in medicine, health, high tech, education, economy and many others both to their host countries and country of origin.
“In 2019 alone, Nigerians in Diaspora remitted about $25billion dollars to shore up the economy,” Dabiri-Erewa said.
She added that the Commission is ever ready to act as a bridge between Nigeria and its Diasporas to harness the abundant human capital, skills and talents to build a formidable nation
She gave assurances that the Commission has its contact desks in international and governmental agencies to liaise and speed up intervention processes.