The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) has expressed willingness to partner with the African Institute for Remittances (AIR) towards improving remittances in Africa.
This was the highlight of a courtesy visit to NiDCOM led by Amadou Cisse, the Executive Director, AIR in Abuja, today.
The courtesy visit and the proposed partnership were contained in a press release e-signed by Gabriel Odu of the Media, Public Relations and Protocols Unit, NiDCOM.
Cisse made it known that Nigeria, the largest recipient of remittances in Sub-Saharan Africa, with a well-structured Diaspora Engagement Policy, is the major country of focus of AIR, alongside Egypt.
“Dealing with Nigeria equals to addressing at least 75 per cent of the issues Africa face with remittances. This will impact the whole continent,” he added.
According to him, the Institute has three main focus: to regulate remittances and ensure its compliance with international regulations; to gather accurate data for tracking; and to create polices to develop remittances.
Cisse added that NiDCOM, being a key player in Diaspora Affairs, not only in Nigeria but Africa, will be a key stakeholder in driving the aims and objectives of the Institute.
Receiving the delegation on behalf of Chairman/CEO, NiDCOM, Honourable Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the Secretary to Commission, Dr. Sule Yakubu Bassi, assured the delegation of the Commission’s commitment to remittances’ development.
“The issue of remittance development has been on the front burner for NiDCOM. Studies have shown that 70 per cent of Nigeria Diaspora Remittances goes into consumption, while only 30 per cent goes into investment.
“Our goal is to see more percentage going into investments so that the Diaspora can have more dividends to allocate to social consumption,” he explained.
To achieve that, the Commission has continued to partner with relevant stakeholders, consistently engaged the Diaspora and execute programmes tailored towards improvement.
AIR is a technical arm of the African Union (AU) designed to exclusively deal with issues of remittances.
