The tour to NiDCOM was guided by Amadou Cisse, Executive Director of the African Institute for Remittances, which was the trip's highlight.
During the visit to Abuja on Monday, Cisse stated that Nigeria and Egypt are their central nation of focus. Nigeria is the largest recipient of remittances in Sub-Saharan Africa and has a well-structured Diaspora Engagement Policy.
“Dealing with Nigeria equals addressing at least 75 per cent of the issues Africa faces with remittances. This will impact the whole continent,” he added.
According to him, the Institute has three main focuses, which are to regulate remittances and ensure its compliance with international regulations, to gather accurate data for tracking remittances and to create policies 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, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the Secretary to Commission, Dr Sule Yakubu Bassi, assured the delegation of the Commission’s commitment to remittance development.
Bassi said: “The issue of remittance development has been on the front burner for NiDCOM.
“Studies have shown that 70 per cent of Nigeria's Diaspora Remittances goes into consumption, while only 30 per cent goes into investment.
“We aim to see more percentage going into investments so the Diaspora can have more dividends to allocate to social consumption.”
To achieve that, the Commission has continued to partner with relevant stakeholders, consistently engaged the Diaspora and execute programmes tailored towards improving remittances.
The African Institute for Remittances is a technical arm of the African Union designed to exclusively deal with issues of Remittances.