Diasporas and the Efficacies of Sustainable National Development inAfrica: The Case of Nigeria (original) (raw)

Africa And Her Diasporas: Building Global Partnerships For Development (A Case Study Of Nigeria)

International Journal of Scientific & Technology Research, 2013

Today, governments of most African states have recognized the importance of the Diaspora to homeland development through its gained experience and know-how, valuable networks and access to significant technology and capital. Most African governments are therefore, poised to create the enabling environment for harnessing these human resources outside the continent by organizing the Diaspora into an effective community. Using Nigeria as a case study, this paper notes that the Federal government of Nigeria as well as many state governments in the country has established the Office of Special Advisers on Diaspora Matters with a view to organizing its citizenry abroad for purposes of homeland development. The Nigerian government has equally included the Diaspora in the nation's development agenda. This paper aims at studying the proactive roles which African Diasporas especially Nigerians have played in the socio-economic development of the continent through remittances, etc. The pap...

The Emerging Roles of Diaspora in the Restructuring of Nigerian State

The changing world economic fortunes as affected the Third World countries has brought about various Structural Adjustment Programmes by the World Bank and other International organisations to cushion its effect on these countries. Over the years, the economic progress of these countries remained dampened and even got worse while at the same time, the richer countries became richer. In these circumstances a number of programmes, projects and methods have been designed to bring about development and turn things around for these countries and their regions. Poverty has been the obvious indicator of the hopelessness of the people of these regions of which Africa is said to have the highest number of such poverty-stricken countries and people living below the poverty level. Migration especially of people of these countries to oversee countries such as the USA, Europe by the people of this region is viewed as opportunities to alleviate the suffering of families by the remittances the migrants send to their families back home. In recent times, researches have confirmed the importance of remittances by the Africans in Diaspora. In fact, such remittances have exceeded official development assistance and Foreign Direct Investments as the Diasporas are becoming a vocal voice by their achievements in the countries of their abode which by and large they are beginning to be of immense assistance to their countries of natural birth by the positive contributions they make. This is basically the focus of this paper to examine the roles of Nigerians in the Diaspora in addressing the developmental problems through their competencies and financial capabilities in the restructuring of the Nigerian state economically, socially and politically.

The Development Dimension in Nigeria: Understanding the Role of Diaspora and Globalization

The reality recognized by immigration experts is a dynamic and effective link between the diaspora and the host and the home country. This is a very important factor in globalization. Diaspora groups are less well known and less valued in their regional development interventions. This lack of recognition may be due to small scholarly studies on foreign development interventions, lack of recognition and promotion by local government, limited contact prior to global technology benefits and lack of awareness of scale, scope and impact of technology. However, it is noted that the scale, scope and impact of the various Diaspora development efforts will vary on a variety of factors, namely the size of the developing country and the complexity of the challenges it faces, the impact/level of trade acceptance, the benefits of technology and the level of acceptance. In the Nigerian context, however, a strong global trade connection was recognized with the launch of the global web, communications and exchanges encouraged communication and transfer of funds to increase awareness and maximize the benefits of foreign intervention benefits. As a result of this migration it becomes an important resource in helping development.

THE NIGERIAN DIASPORA, GOVERNMENTAL PARTNERSHIP AND DEVELOPMENT INTERVENTIONS

2018

This paper argues that the Nigerian government's partnership with the Diaspora can advance the country's development. The Diaspora constitutes a viable pool of resource to assist in national development. Partnership between the Nigerian Diaspora and government before 1999 was limited to occasional contact and activities. This could be attributed to the decades of political instability, domestic maladjustment, economic downturns and increasing poverty within the country. Political instability gave way to democratic change and the need to source for development led the Nigerian government to officially recognize the Nigerian Diaspora as important stakeholders and potential partners in the country's development. President Obasanjo's administration in 1999 orchestrated the establishment of the Nigerian Diaspora association(NIDO, established in 2001)to mobilize, engage and involve the Diaspora in the nations development process. It is on record that despite challenges and setbacks, government effort yielded some tangible results in terms of solid personal and institutional linkages.It is important to note that expatriate Nigerians are actively involved in health insurance, mortgages, and registered pension and credit purchase schemes among other initiatives. This paper argues that government partnership in development intervention has laid a good foundation and should be further exploited to yield good results.

International Migration, Diaspora Investments and Development in Nigeria

Springer eBooks, 2022

Migration is core to human existences. Migration is triggered by many factors. These factors include; economy, security, family reunion, education and persecution among other reasons (Akanle & Adesina, 2017a). Hence, according to the reasons and factors behind migration can also be classified into economic factors, demographic factors, socio-cultural factors, political factors and miscellaneous factors. The drivers/causes of migration also fit into the push and pull factors frameworks (Akanle, 2018). This is against the backdrop of the motivations from pull factors of the booming economy at destination countries and the push factors of bad infrastructures, unemployment, poverty, political instability, insecurity, and so on at countries of origin. People may migrate as individuals, in family units or in large groups. This is why Akanle and Adesina (2017a) maintains while some migrations from Africa may be involuntary, significant proportions are voluntary and motivated by economic pressures. Even those which appear to be involuntary are often belied with voluntariness in the final analysis. International migration is therefore very much more complicated, dynamic, sensitive and operating with critical multi-functionalities in the twenty-first century and this will most likely be so into the nearest foreseeable future in development terms and for development reasons. It is therefore very important and existential for key actors and stakeholders in the development spaces to constantly examine the existential development elements of international migrations within the remit of multidimensionalities and functionalities in contexts of development across developing

Leveraging the African Diaspora for Development

Migration is on the rise on the African continent, and impacts the both positively and negatively. The positive impacts include remittances and diaspora contributions to national development, while negative impacts include brain drain, de-skilling and costs of managing international borders. The past decade had witnessed the intensification of the migration and development debate, with scholars, governments, and development agencies and practitioners increasingly exploring the links between migration and development. The migration and development discourse is an exercise in maximising the impact of migration positives on national development while simultaneously mitigating the impact of the negative aspects. A nation’s diaspora, and all the positives that can flow from its existence are some of the issues that have attracted the attention of academics, practitioners and diasporas. African countries recognize the role that their diasporas can play in national development, and are factoring diaspora issues in their national development frameworks, and establishing national structures dedicated to the management and coordination of diaspora issues. This paper latches onto the diaspora engagement debate, examines what is known about leveraging the development potential of diasporas for development, identifies challenges in diaspora engagement efforts and raises issues for consideration by policy makers and practitioners in a quest to strengthen diaspora engagement.

Issues of South-South Migration: A Case Study of Nigerian Diasporas in Ghana

In spite of the fact that intra and interregional migration predates the colonial period in Africa, South-South visà-vis South-North migration has received little attention in the international discourse on migration. Recent investigations are indicating that South-South migration is important in terms of its magnitude. For example, a World Bank study shows that about two-thirds of Sub-Saharan migrants remain within their sub-region with among the highest rates of intra-regional mobility (World Bank, 2011). Beyond this general observation, information is scarce in respect of who these migrants are, their contributions to the development process of the sub-region, their opportunities and challenges within the context of regional economic communities and most importantly the need for appropriate policies and strategies to address the constraints facing this valuable resource. It is evident from our study that Nigerians are engaged in trans-nationalism in the context of intra-regional migration in West Africa. The Nigerian Diasporas in Ghana maintain social, political and most importantly economic linkages with their home country in the process of forming transnational communities. At destination, they are organized along ethnic, religious and professional lines, which are the platforms for their interventions in the home country as remitters of ideas, funds and goods. Their altruistic posture has often served as a major household survival strategy to cushion the negative effects of unemployment, sickness and bad harvests on household members left behind by providing for their basic consumption needs, and meeting the human capital needs of the next generation in terms of education, health care and shelter. For better-off households, remittances provide capital for small businesses and small-scale industries. The collective remittances through Home Town Development and ethnic associations are sources of funding basic infrastructural facilities which benefit all households especially in small communities that may not be benefiting from local government budgets. The evidence from the activities of Nigerian Diasporas in Ghana shows that they, as part of the Nigerian transnationals worldwide , can complement and deepen Nigeria's efforts at reducing poverty and improving development at local and national levels. Therefore, the government needs to recognize this potential and factor it into its regional cooperation, especially at ECOWAS level in order to address some of the challenges and constraints facing trans-nationals in member states.