The Nigerians in the Diaspora Organisation (NiDO) Worldwide has reiterated its call on the federal government to create an enabling environment for compatriots abroad to attract more investors into the country.

The coordinating chairman of NiDO-Worldwide, Victor Ubani, who led the delegation of the Nigerian Diasporas, disclosed this at the news conference on the sidelines of the 2024 National Diaspora Week celebration on Saturday in Abuja.

The week-long event organised by Nigerians in the Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) sought to commemorate the National Diaspora Day, often celebrated on July 25 yearly, to engage compatriots living abroad in town hall with the Nigerian president.

He observed President Bola Tinubu had called on all Nigerians in the diaspora to come back home and invest in the country, saying the government should provide an enabling environment for such to thrive.

Mr Ubani, who is currently the continental chair of NiDO Americas, said, “Although Nigeria has all it takes to make the country great using its natural and human resources.

“The message I will be taking back to fellow NiDO-Worldwide is that there is no place like home.

“The situation may be upside down, but we cannot expect foreigners to build our country; our compatriots should find a way to come back.

“As they are doing that, we are asking the government for an enabling environment, because I do not see Nigerians in the diaspora come back to invest.

“Also, to create jobs, when they do not have security and there are deplorable roads, nobody will work in such an environment.

“Many of us in the diaspora have come in here to carry out meaningful projects, but bureaucracy has been discouraging. We want to come back home and give back to our society.”

He mentioned that the delegation had, upon their arrival in the country in the past two weeks, trained a total of 600 youths on ICT in the FCT and Abeokuta, Ogun.

He restated that for the organisation to do more to attract investors into the country, the government must invest adequately in security and electricity power supply, among other things.

“We are not asking for too much; we can help; there is a whole lot of unemployment and what we can do is see how we can come back to create jobs.

“The only way we can do that is when the government provides us with the enabling environment,” he added.

He promised that NiDO-Worldwide would continue to work closely with the Nigerian NIDCOM to fully realise this year’s theme: “Japa Phenomena and its Implications for National Development.”

“Nigeria may be hard, tough and have challenges just like any other country; when you talk about investment and returns on investment, there is no place where returns are higher than what we get in Nigeria.

“We may have economic challenges, but I am telling people here to always look inward; there are so many things we can do here.

“What you spent to go abroad could have been used here to advance your life, education and well-being.

“Returns on investment in diaspora are not what you get here in anything you are doing; in America, when you make any amount in your business, you are being taxed 35 per cent of your profit,” Mr Ubani stated.

He restated that lots of people travelled abroad on grounds of ‘japa’, only to realise too late that life out there was not what they had perceived.

According to him, people who have lived there for 10 to 15 years find it difficult to come home and start business at home.

He further urged the government to establish a database to enable the organisation to access all Nigerians living abroad, particularly towards responding to distress calls by compatriots under any conflict situations.

He said the delegation had so far officially visited the African Development Bank, minister of agriculture, NiDCOM boss and the chairman of the House committee on diaspora affairs to discuss issues centred on diaspora voting rights and remittances.

(NAN)