Nigerians living abroad have been urged to find a way to work together with the government of the federation on how developments can be brought to the country through their professional skills.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with our correspondent, Evelyn Chinwe Onwuegbusi, a research student at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, said there was the need for the federal government to start tapping the skills of Nigerians living abroad in order to hasten the development of the country.
On her project called ‘Diaspora Initiative,’ the Nigerian researcher disclosed that the purpose of the project was to build a bridge between the Nigerian government yearning to reclaim Nigeria’s Diasporia Human Resources Pool scattered around the world and a willing and nostalgic Nigerian Diaspora yearning to come over to develop the country.
Onwuegbusi further added that her project wanted to create a new sense of citizenship and nationalism undiluted by geographic locations and to sensitise Nigerians abroad to heed their nation’s call to patriotism.
To achieve this, she advised that Nigerian Embassies in foreign countries to put a name and a face to each of the 20 million Nigerians living abroad, liaise with Nigerian ministries, engage the host countries and carry the Nigerians groups abroad along.
Saying that the government should make use of the media to transmit information to Nigerians abroad, the researcher also advised that the government should do everything to attract diasporia Nigerian investors and foreign investors in order to enhance job creation.
She also encouraged Nigerians to give back to their country through fundraisers and tol engage in capacity building and skills acquisition.
Speaking on the effectiveness of internet communication, Onwuegbusi told our Correspondent that the potential of the internet as a means of communication is constantly reaching new heights, ranging from an avenue for dispersing information, to a socio-political, socio-economic, and socio-cultural arena.
She noted that this has become a platform for cross-border collective quest for the identification and definition of all that constitute the signifiers of nationhood by citizens of Nigeria living in various locations.
It would be recalled that the federal government, during the last convention of the Nigerians in Diaspora Organization (NIDO) disclosed its readiness to facilitate effective engagement and collaboration with Nigerian health Professionals in Diaspora.
The representative of the Federal Ministry Of Health, Mrs Ademola Majekodunmi who disclosed noted that the 54th National Council of Health recently held in Abuja has approved the establishment of the Diaspora and Foreign Health Missions Unit in the Ministry.
She further disclosed that all proposed health Missions to States and Health Care facilities within Nigeria by Nigerians or Foreign health Professionals in Diaspora would be communicated to the Unit for documentation.
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