Really good news for Nigeria. Yes, the diasporas are opening their purses and wallets and funds are now going to the home country. In H1 2022, Nigeria received $10.11 billion (from the official quarters). When you add the non-border remittance (you have USD dollar in New York and someone has Naira in Lagos, both do deals without any money crossing the border), it could have hit $15 billion.
Now tell me: how much is Nigeria’s total annual revenue excluding crude oil sales? Way below $30 billion yearly using the 2022 budget numbers. Indeed, the diasporas are sending more money to Nigeria than its total non-oil revenue!
Of course, receiving $30billion is a marginal gain for Nigeria when you see the value these diasporas are creating in the countries they live in. But had they stayed in Nigeria, those values would have been impossible. This makes it extremely hard for a government policy. While it is a great thing to receive change, you cannot develop a nation on the policy of training and exporting your best talent.
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According to Nigeria’s Ministry of Finance, budget, and national planning, it disclosed that diaspora remittances were among the top sources of non-oil foreign exchange for the nation.
Just recently, it was reported that in the first half (H1) of year 2022, Nigerians received the sum of $10.11 billion as diaspora remittances between January and June, which represents a 9.6% increase when compared to $9.23 billion received in the corresponding period of 2021.
In contrast to the second half of 2021, Nigeria’s diaspora remittance inflow increased marginally by 0.9% from $10.02 billion. This is according to data obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
While it is a great thing to receive “change” or leftovers, you cannot develop a nation on the policy of training and exporting your best talent even as you struggle to know what to do with the talent if they stay back in the country!
Comment on LinkedIn Feed
Comment 1: The #japa economy is booming.
Nigeria is known to turn a blind eye to anything that benefits them short-term like we saw in the oil era. Don’t be surprised they can find this a justifiable reason to provide more scholarships to students so they can go abroad to bring in more diaspora wealth. At least not like the legalised slavery era where the money comes once when selling the individual as a commodity and never returns as dividend to the seller. The country should be thinking more longer term on how to grow talents on Nigerian soil by making the environment more favourable for them.
Many countries like UK, Australia, Canada, US have set up migration schemes to attract the best and brightest talents especially in their shortage occupation areas. Nigerian talents are shipped out en masse not out of adventure but a desperate need to survive.
That’s the reason it’s difficult to convince a graduate to stay back in the country or even return back after studies. They can bring back wealth and invest within a short time which could never have been possible with the peanuts in Nigeria.
Japa has become a huge investment any person can make in their career which the country is benefiting from, but of course, losing a lot from.
Comment 2: I believe that government can actually use good policies to not only increase the remittances but also increase them to investment. There are Nigerians who want to invest back home but government often inimical practices are a major challenge. By government I’m referring more to State governments’ not federal because the people in diaspora can afford to invest in backward integration strategy of the government if any such thing exists. For instance, if a State government legislates that anyone that has spare fund can go into agriculture, that will hang in the air but if you say bring N5M for cassava and you are entitled to 6 acres of land and a staff of the ministry of agriculture will oversee your farm and 2 youths interested in agriculture will be paid to work on the farm. If there’s transparency the second option can work. But then, the poison pill called monthly allocation will never allow government to think of how Nigeria can be made to work for her people. You have to give it to the people living in diaspora, they are doing well and yet they are completely disenfranchised when it comes to voting.
Comment 3: We are still losing so much, $10 billion remittance is nothing when compared to how far we have fallen. India has breached export earnings of $400 billion, and we are here talking about numbers that a single state in Nigeria should be bragging about.
When we have a proper government, we can attempt fixing all the broken parts. This idea of being beaten down mercilessly to the point that every small thing appears great, is something we must first do away with.
Our numbers never inspire, over 200 million people with a landmass of almost a million square kilometres. We should never allow poverty to violate and deconstruct our sense of worth and value.
Diaspora Remittance to Nigeria Hits $10.11 billion in H1 2022
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