Nigeria Has Fourth Largest Number of Diasporans Outside Africa – Expert

Prof. Kevin Urama, Chief Economist and Vice President, Economic Governance and Knowledge Management, African Development Bank (AfDB) Group, says Nigeria ranks fourth among African countries with large numbers of diasporans outside the continent.

Urama disclosed this in Abuja while speaking on“ Diaspora Funding for Africa’s Development” at the Global African Diaspora Symposium on Building Stronger Connections between Africa and the Global Diaspora on Thursday.

“Nigeria is one of the countries with large numbers of Diasporans. The Nigerian Diaspora living outside Africa has tripled between 2000 and 2020. While Nigeria ranks fourth among African countries with large numbers of Diasporans outside the continent, the extra-continental Nigerian diaspora has tripled in two decades.

From 320,000 people in 2000 to about one million in 2020. About 58 per cent of Nigeria’s diasporans live outside Africa, while 42 per cent live in Africa,’’ he said.

Urama said the African Union (AU) estimated that 70,000 skilled professionals emigrate from the continent annually, noting that in 2015, African-trained medical graduates practising in the US reached 13,584.

According to the economist, there has never been a more fitting time than the present for us to unite, work together, and help build a formidable, dynamic and prosperous continent.

Urama said: “Development is a Do-It-Yourself  (DIY) business. Africans should take the proverbial “bull by the horns”; do what is right for Africa. By working together, we can build the Africa we want.

Speaking on diaspora financing in supporting Africa’s development, he said that the African diasporans were invaluable assets for Africa’s development and their countries of residence around the world.

He said all Africans, living in Africa, migrants living outside Africa and people of African descent living in other continents around the world, constitute “The Global Africa”. The economist said they also had the inherent desire and responsibility to proactively build the Africa we want.

Urama, while speaking on brain circulation, said returning migrants/diasporan could also bring back new skills, knowledge, technology, connections, norms and democratic values.

“Skilled emigrants can have an important role in the transfer of knowledge and technology.From the most developed to the less developed world through formal and informal networks thus encouraging brain circulation, which could promote sustainable development in Africa,’’ he said

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