Chukwu David 
The Senate, on Monday, called for independent budgetary provisions for Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), by separating its budget from the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Diasporia and Non-Governmental Organisations, Senator Victor Umeh, made the call in Abuja while presenting the report of the budget defence of the Committee to the Appropriations Committee.
Umeh explained that the call became necessary following the importance of NIDCOM to the activities of Nigerians in the Diaspora.
“The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) should have an independent budget from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since it is a Commission established by Act of the National Assembly.
“There are other agencies who do not do much as NIDCOM, but have independent budgetary provisions,” Umeh noted.
According to the lawmaker, Nigerians in Diaspora were maximally contributing to the nation’s development, pointing out that 24 billion dollars was remitted to Nigeria in 2022 by the diasporans.
He stated that, despite the huge remittance to the national coffers, the allocation to the Commission had remained negligible to take care of the numerous needs of the Commission in the discharge of its mandate.
The politician noted that Nigerians, who generated money from diasporia had various needs and challenges that required NIDCOM attention and supervision, lamenting that the Commission was not adequately funded to discharge the duties.
Umeh stressed the need to provide funds to organise the Diaspora Investment Summit in Canada, America, the United Kingdom, in America, and other parts of the world to bring Nigerians together to partner with Federal and State governments for investments.
According to the Committee Chairman, this could also help drive the renewed hope agenda of President Bola Tinubu.
“This one is critical, Diaspora Investment Summit, that one has economic value, you can not quantify the amount of money they remit to Nigeria, 24 billion dollars in 2022 alone.”
Umeh, who is a member of the Labour Party, said that there was an urgent need to improve the budgetary provision of NIDCOM, given the enormous challenges faced by the commission.
He said that there was no way NIDCOM could travel to nations to seek solutions to the challenges of Nigerians abroad with the little budgetary allocation.
He said that the Committee approved the insertion of five new line items amounting to N1 billion from the proposed N2.5 billion for approval of the Appropriations Committee.
The Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Senator Solomon Adeola, said that NIDCOM actually required funding to function accordingly, assuring that the Committee would pay attention to NIDCOM when reporting to the Senate in Plenary.
