BY OUR REPORTERS
Four Nigerian professionals based in the United States have made a case for diaspora voting, saying Nigerians overseas contribute more than $20bn annually to the economy and that they deserve to have a say in who becomes the President of the country.
The four professionals were guests on the Sunday edition of Inside Sources with Laolu Akande, a socio-political programme on Channels Television.
They are Simon Ibe, the Publisher of Global Patriot Newspaper, New Jersey; Kunle Deru, New York Attorney and Former President of Nigeria Lawyers Association in New York; Williams Ekanem, Professor of Communications and Media, Suffolk Country College, New York; and Gbenga Omotayo, Chief Executive Officer of US-Africa Business Week, New York.
According to the World Bank, remittances from Nigerians living abroad reached $20bn in 2023.
Ibe said, “Diaspora voting has been recurring and I believe that the time for it to be actualised is now. A lot of other countries that are less endowed than Nigeria are already in the process of their diasporans voting.
“In the case of Nigeria, going by the statistics that are public knowledge, the diaspora remittance to Nigeria I understand is over $20bn annually and part of the consideration is that these people who are contributing so much to the country should also have a say in who leads the country.”
The Diaspora Voting Rights Bill is in the House of Representatives. The bill which passed the second reading in the House on July 9, 2024, seeks to amend the Electoral Act, 2022 to allow Nigerians abroad to vote in future elections.
“Let the bill be passed and let the process for actualise start. It should be done,” Ibe said.
On his part, Deru said, “Where there is a will, there is a way. I’m not sure we will get it done in the next electoral circle but we can at least start having a target for that and a goal.
“There is a lot that will go into that but I think we should work toward it even if it will be a 10-year plan.”
Ekanem said diaspora voting is overdue but stressed that votes must count for the exercise to be effective.
“We all know voting or election is a game of numbers. The question anyone will ask here is this: will my votes count? That will be a very big factor even when the policy is out and the modalities are put in place, a large and encouraging turnout will be expected but if at the end of the day, the votes don’t count, that will be very discouraging,” he said.
Ekanem said a lot of house cleaning needs to be done to make votes count, adding that it may start with a pilot project with one or two countries, then it will spread to the others.
Omotayo noted that diaspora remittance in Nigeria supersedes foreign direct investment into the country, hence, the need for diaspora voting.
“Remittance is way more our foreign direct investment. If a group of people can be sending money home and that money is way more than all the money that comes into a country, they should be part of the decision-making. The government has to find a way to make it work,” he said.
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