Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Ikanade Agba, has urged African states to learn lessons from other emerging and developing countries that have successfully engaged their Diasporas for economic and social development.
Prince Agba, who made this call on Thursday, in his goodwill message at the opening of the Global African Diaspora Symposium, organised by the African Diaspora Alliance (ADA) with the theme “Building Stronger Connections between Africa and the Global Diaspora,” said Malasia with it’s TalentCorp, was reaping from such initiative.
The symposium was held in conjunction with the Organization of Africa, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) and the Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa (DTCA) of Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The minister disclosed that the South African Network of Skills Abroad (SANSA) and Rwanda, where, according to him, a solidarity fund was started, with a view to enabling the Diaspora contribute to the development of their country, were examples of countries that had benefitted from such action.
The minister added that for the purposes of harnessing the African Diaspora to support transformative development, Nigeria and Africa as a whole needed to be more systematic, structured and strategic in engagement with the Diaspora as opportunities for them to contribute to the development of the continent, had remained unexploited largely because of the lack of proper coordination and the inability to envision the importance of the Diaspora beyond remittances.
“It suffices to state that Nigeria is also not resting on it oars in the quest for expanding the frontiers of Diaspora engagement. In this regards, the Nigerian Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), was set up to provide for the engagement of Nigerians in Diaspora in the policies, projects and participation in the development of Nigeria and for the purpose of utilizing the human capital and material resources of Nigerians in Diaspora towards the overall socioeconomic, cultural and political development of the country,” he noted.
Agba remarked that the symposium was important as it was expected to build upon the outcomes of the first African Diaspora Symposium (ADS-2020) held in Nairobi, Kenya in December, 2020 as well as the first Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) Diaspora Forum hosted at the 10th Summit of OACPS Heads of State and Government, on December 7, 2022 in Luanda, Republic of Angola.
He stressed that the symposium was in with a view to creating a framework for maximizing the engagement between Africa and the Diaspora towards achieving sustainable development.
He said it was his belief that the outputs from the event would empower member states to develop policy recommendations on how to harness the power of the diaspora for Africa’s development.
Stay ahead with the latest updates! Join The ConclaveNG on WhatsApp and Telegram for real-time news alerts, breaking stories, and exclusive content delivered straight to your phone. Don’t miss a headline — subscribe now!
