Nigeria to reintroduce diaspora voting

By Bukola Hameed

The House of Representatives committee on diaspora has said diaspora voting bill which was rejected during the constitution amendment exercise will be reintroduced.

The chairman of the committee Mrs Tolulope Shadipe, stated this when the chairman/CEO of Nigerians in the Diaspora Commission NIDCOM, Dr Abike Dabiri-Erewa, appeared before the committee to defend the commission’s 2023 budget.

Mrs Shadipe said they must eventually pass, because that is the direction the world is going.

“We would be back with the bill. They are Nigerians and they have the right to vote in Nigerian elections. The modalities and the issues that were raised the last time would be resolved and we would come back to it

She revealed that the committee is also looking at the issue of people of Nigerian descent who are not currently Nigerians but want to return home after DNA tests proved that they have ties to Nigeria.

The Chairman/CEO of NIDCOM Dr Abike Dabiri-Erewa, urged Nigerians to stop migrating to other countries if they don’t have jobs there.

According to her, eighty percent of prisoners in Dubai are Nigerians, who went there without jobs and got into trouble.

Mrs Abike Dabiri stressed the need for a stronger multi-sector collaboration to stop the trend.