NIGERIANS IN THE DIASPORA ARE NOT THE PROBLEM

One in every FIVE dark skin people of African descent (Sub-Saharan Africans) is a Nigerian. For as long as Nigeria remains an under-performing nation, the black nation will not gain the respect of the world. This leads to the topic of how Nigerians at home perceive Nigerians in the diaspora.

Many Nigerians at home are fiery and angry when Nigerians in the diaspora speak the truth about the state of the nation and the fact that we can not continue to be satisfied with incremental change that leads nowhere, and why the ORDINARY people of Nigeria are the only one who can make the change that the nation needs - first by electing smart, educated, enlightened, proven, and unifying leaders, especially the president; and by being the change we want in Nigeria in our daily endeavor.

Some Nigerians at home use lines of attack such as:

1. YOU HAVE LEFT, SO, YOU DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO TELL THE REST OF US LEFT HOME WHAT TO DO. No, we have the right - some of us still pay tax at home, we carry the green passport, we have families at home who could not leave and we bear their pain daily. In sane climes, diasporans are allowed to participate in the electoral process - Nigerians abroad should be able to vote just like their Kenyan counterparts.

2. YOU ARE NOT HERE, WE ARE, HOW CAN YOU TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU DON'T EXPERIENCE... We may not be home but we bear the burdens of the family. We look at the home front from afar, we see better and are able to speak to the situation at home better. Nigerians at home receive news about home just as we do abroad - you can only be in one place at time, so the media and person-to-person news transfer are common to all Nigerians - home or abroad.

3. YOU SIT IN YOUR GLASS HOUSE AND YOU ARE THROWING "STONES" AT YOUR FATHER'S HOUSE... this is not true of all Nigerians abroad speaking truth to power...

4. YOU RAN AWAY, BUT WON'T LEAVE US ALONE... etc. We left to realize our potential. What is good in smart, endowed, and gifted Nigerians staying at home where they have to be connected to powerful politicians to find jobs.

These may appear to be genuine statements but they are mostly borne out of feelings of frustration and a false sense of loyalty to lies. When you experience incremental damage, you don't know how bad things are. Those who have left, feel a sense of shock every time they return home because they can contrast what they left with where they are coming from, to what they now see. Nigerians at home have a way of adjusting to hardship and we have been doing so for decades, especially the older generation. The younger generations, unfortunately, are not so patient, hence, the JAPA syndrome where talented young Nigerians are developing skills that would open the door to leave for greener pastures or leave by every means - all means possible.

Here are a few of the benefits Nigerians in the diaspora bring to the nation:

1. Branding - for many decades, Nigeria was seen as a nation of 419s, thieves. Diaspora Nigerians have changed this because of their record of accomplishments - some of the best medical doctors, scientists, entertainers, athletes, investment bankers, professors, and politicians, ... are Nigerians. Nigerians in the diaspora excel. WHY, because they are among our best. The world absorbed them because they are attractive and we did not leverage their talents. Nigeria has been frustrating its best to leave, losing billions in taxpayers' money invested in subsidized education they got at home....

2. Remission: Nigeria's economy relies heavily on foreign currencies (Dollars, Pounds, euros, etc.) remitted by Nigerians abroad to keep the economy going. It is estimated about $25 billion

3. Human capital return: Many Nigerians abroad have returned home to provide valuable training to the professional groups at several levels that continue to influence growth - I know this because I am a part of such giveback.

4. Cultural ambassador: Nigerians in the diaspora, whether we like it or not, are cultural ambassadors. Some of them are the ones who opened the doors for many home-based Nigerian talents who are crisscrossing the world today.... they are the vanguard in Hollywood, Music Industry, and Academia, - I know because I am involved in creating such opportunities and I know many more of my peers here who did the same thing.


Nigerians (especially the old school - those born before 1985) at home need to STOP pointing fingers at Nigerians abroad as if they are the problem. Many Nigerians abroad could choose not to participate - I know Nigerians who have lost hope in the nation and have not visited since they left and do not plan to return. Diaspora Nigerians who engage in happenings at home do so because they still CARE and bear so much burden of families at home than many living there. We are pained and sometimes ashamed when we read stories about happenings at home. We know Nigeria could be the Dubai of Africa but the nation has under-performed.

There is so much that rest on the success of Nigeria as a nation ... we cannot continue to be satisfied with the status quo.