Akeredolu Charts Course For Revenue Creation From Diaspora Remittances

• The meeting took place at the governor’s office in Akure on Tuesday, September.

Governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu has advanced discussions with Senior Special Assistant (Diaspora Affairs) to Ekiti State Governor and Chairman Nigeria’s Diaspora Focal Point Officers’ Forum, Femi Odere, on exploring revenue creation via diaspora remittances.

The meeting, geared towards availing the Southwest governors of the policy recommendations sequel to the maiden edition of the Southwest Diaspora Focal Point Officers’ summit that took place in Ado-Ekiti in June, held at the governor’s office in Akure on Tuesday, September 21, 2021.

Odere’s submission, as argued in a series of symposia is for states to “follow the money especially in this day and age where oil is beginning to dry up.” Odere said it is critically important that we “begin to look for creative ways to generate revenue for the states.”

The argument fundamentally springs from the fact that Nigeria receives on average $25 billion annually, it goes without saying that remittance companies and commercial banks are making hundreds of millions of dollars annually as profits on these remittances, while the states get nothing.

READ ALSO: Diaspora Remittances: Fayemi’s Aide, Odere, Calls For States Involvement In Profit Sharing

Odere said he sees the southwest Diaspora as the region’s untapped ‘oil’ begging to be explored for the region’s developmental purpose but the “right strategies and policies must be deployed to accomplish this objective,” he said.

“Just as we cannot just scoop oil with our bare hands. We need sophisticated machines to extract it from the deep and undergrounds, so must we create the right policy frameworks in order to tap this huge resource pool for our region’s development,” he told the Speaker.

The SSA has constantly been advocating that the right policies for the Nigerians in Diaspora must be embarked upon at every opportunity, not only because it is the right thing to do but also because “we’re just so far behind the eight ball of our developmental journey.”

FURTHER READING:

• Dignitaries Advocate Novel Strategies In Harnessing Diaspora Remittances For Southwest Development
• See Your Diaspora As Untapped ‘Oil’ Resource, Fayemi’s Aide Admonishes States
• Harnessing Diaspora Potential For Grassroots Development: A Clarion Call To Ekiti State Govt

Odere’s recommendation, which has garnered increasing momentum amongst states has piqued the interest of Governor Akeredolu who is exploring the possibility of carving out a robust revenue source from an “oil well” that has been hitherto, untapped.