Remittances From Diaspora Hit $4 Billion

[Richard Akindele]

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, yesterday said remittances to Nigeria from the Diaspora have hit over $4 billion.

She spoke at a gala night organised in honour of Nigerians in the Diaspora on Monday evening at Transcorp-Hilton Hotel, where a large applause from the crowd signified an appreciation of the assistance funds from abroad.

She said: "Remittances today are becoming an important source of income for many countries, and sometimes surpassing exports as the source of foreign exchange. The World Bank estimates that about $167 billion in remittances was sent to developing countries in 2004.

"It is estimated that sub-Saharan Africa receives about $7.7 billion in inward remittances, with Nigeria accounting for nearly $3 billion. These are all, however, conservative estimates and economists agree that the actual values may be up to 50 percent higher. So in the case of Nigeria, we are looking at a total value of remittances of over $4 Billion! This is a valuable source of income for the country, and it is some thing we want to encourage."

According to her, in today's world with rapid globalization and international migration, the Diaspora communities have become increasingly important for their parent countries.

The minister listed countries that had benefited from the Diaspora to include Mexico, India, Morocco, Israel and Jamaica. "The potential benefits of the Diaspora could accrue via remittances they send back home, serving as a channel for trade and investments, and also providing technology and skills transfer upon their return to their countries of origin."

Okonjo-Iweala said government was developing a data base of Nigerian experts abroad in order to better access the pool of expertise abroad. "This will be useful in two ways- first to enable government obtain access to Nigerian professionals abroad for their skills and expertise; and second, to encourage interaction among Nigerian professionals who may share common interests."

She stressed that the Nigerian National Volunteer Service (NNVS)( was established as a concrete initial step, saying the service was aimed at providing opportunities for the Diasporas retirees to work in meaningful projects back home.

The Minister of Foreign affairs lamented that Nigeria's performance in the global economy remained poor in the last few decades.

"Our share of global trade has been very low. For example: in 2004, total exports from sub-Saharan Africa amounted to $142 billion (or only 1.6 percent of world merchandise exports). Nigeria, with all our oil and gas, exported about $37 billion (or only 0.42 percent of World exports.) This is very low when we compare ourselves to countries such as Brazil (at $96 billion), Malaysia (at $126 billion), or even Korea (at $254 billion)."

She said government was doing its best to improve investment climate, ensure macroeconomic stability, to develop appropriate institutions to support various initiatives by the private sector.

"We have put in place prudent fiscal policies, improved our public expenditure management and maintained disciplined monetary policy. The improved macroeconomic environment has provided the platform for sustained growth in the real sectors", she maintained.

She urged Nigerians in Diaspora to transfer their skills and technologies back home send their remittances and channel trade and investments back home.

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