Joe Keshi, a Diplomat, makes a policy statement:


Until recently l was the consul general of Nigeria in
Atlanta,GA. Today l am back in Abuja trying to drive
the Nigerian fed. govt's efforts at encouraging Nigerians in
the Diaspora to be involved in the development process
at home. Let me add that the emphasis is not on
re-location which will come, some day, based on
individual decisions but on persuading the diasporans
to recognise that from their bases overseas there is a
lot they can do to help tackle our increasing and
intractable problems of underdevelopment.

  Even mobilising to scale up the advocacy for debt
cancellation for the country or advocating for good
governance is a step in the right direction. This is
not to mention coming on sabbatical for at least a
year which will help albeit, temporarily to address
the shortage of highly qualified and exp. lectuers in
our universities.

 In terms of investment channelling the remittances of
Nigerians in the diaspora into the productive sector
will be a significant annual investment,the impact of
which will be enormous.

  Gradually the various African govts are coming to
terms will the reality and the need  for a clear and
well articulated policy on the issue.Your efforts and
that of your colleauges who have made very insightful
comments on the issue of homecoming have been useful,
particularly at this point that we are in the process
of visioning. It is for this l want to ask a favour of
you. How can l access the articles you referred to,
edited by Paul TIyanbe Zeleza and co?. I have spent
the last two days searching without success. I will
come back to you again because we have benefited from
reading all the contributions you have posted which, allow me to observe with some sadness, have been generally ignored by our people.

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