NiDCOM, Institute, partner for remittances development  

Abuja: Dec.19, 2022.

The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) has expressed willingness to partner with the African Institute for Remittances (AIR) towards improving remittances in Africa.

This was the highlight of the courtesy visit to NiDCOM, led by Amadou Cisse, the Executive Director, African Institute for Remittances in Abuja on Monday.

Cisse made it known that Nigeria, the largest recipient of remittances in Sub-Saharan Africa, with a well-structured Diaspora Engagement Policy, is their major country of focus alongside Egypt.

“Dealing with Nigeria equals to addressing at least 75 per cent of the issues Africans face with remittances. This will impact the whole continent,” he added.

According to him, the Institute has three main focus areas which are to regulate remittances and ensure their compliance with international regulations, to gather accurate data for tracking remittances and to create polices 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 the Chairman/CEO, NiDCOM, Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the Secretary to the Commission, Dr. Sule Yakubu Bassi, assured the delegation of the Commission’s commitment to remittances development.

“The issue of remittance development has been on the front burner for NiDCOM. Studies have shown that 70 per cent of Nigeria Diaspora Remittances goes into consumption while only 30 per cent goes into investment.

“Our goal is to see more percentage going into investments so the Diaspora can have more dividends to allocate to social consumption,” he explained.

To achieve that, he said that the Commission has continued to partner with relevant stakeholders, consistently engaging the Diaspora and executing programmes tailored towards improving remittances.

The African Institute for Remittances is the technical arm of the African Union designed to exclusively deal with issues of Remittances.