Lawmakers raise hope of passing bill after diasporans threaten to withhold remittances
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Lawmakers have resolved to revisit the Diaspora Voting Bill to ensure an estimated six million Nigerians abroad can vote in their home country as done in the bastions of democracy, such the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Canada.
House of Representatives Diaspora Committee Chairman Tolulope Shadipe confirmed the plan to Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) Chief Executive Officer Abike Dabiri-Erewa when she appeared before the committee to defend NIDCOM 2023 budget.
Shadipe said the House will reintroduce the bill which was rejected during the Constitution amendment exercise. If passed into law, it will enable eligible Nigerians in the diaspora to vote in national elections.
“We will be back with the bill. They are Nigerians and they have the right to vote in Nigerian elections. The modalities and the issues raised the last time will be resolved and we will come back to it,” she promised, per reporting by Nairametrics.
She added the committee is also looking at the issue of people of Nigerian descent who are currently not Nigerians but wish to return home after DNA tests prove their ties to Nigeria.
Dabiri-Erewa disclosed 80 per cent of prisoners in Dubai are Nigerians who went to the Gulf country without jobs and got into trouble. She urged Nigerians to stop migrating to other countries if they cannot secure jobs before leaving.
Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), has promised to provide an opportunity for diaspora Nigerians to vote elections if elected President in 2023.
Obi said his administration will engage diasporans in ways mutually beneficial, and “by 2027 election, Nigerian Diaspora must have a voice via absentee ballots.”
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Diasporans threaten to stop remittance if they can’t vote
In September, diasporans kicked against Abuja’s decision to exclude them from voting in 2023 and threatened to withhold remittances that are a buffer for a treasury hemmed in by forex drought and relentless looting by Muhammadu Buhari’s officials.
Nigerians living in the US, speaking for themselves and for others across the world, listed a litany of troubles and discouragement created for them by the Nigerian government which fails to reciprocate their effort to help build the country.
They cited the herculean task of trying to obtain a Nigerian passport or visa, how Abuja scammed them through a failed Diaspora Village project, extorted them of dollars through Covid testing, and now depriving them of voting in a critical ballot.
A letter they wrote to Dabiri-Erewa urged her to prevail on Buhari and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure they vote in the 2023 election they see as a make or break for Nigeria.
“Kindly ensure compliance with the above before or by October 1, 2022,” said the letter, written on behalf of Diasporans by Emmanuel Ogebe, Managing Partner at US Nigeria Law Group (USNLG), Washington.