The diaspora is not an industry.
Sending a national crowd to attend the so-called Nigeria Diaspora Investment Economic Conference in Toronto, Canada, from August 12 to 15, 2026, with the hope of attracting diaspora investment, is an embarrassing political jamboree and a waste of public funds. Is this project, which was reportedly conceptualized by the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, a productive innovation? The answer is negative.
The diaspora is not an industry. They are individuals who mostly escaped from the consequences of bad governance in Nigeria to eke out a living and forge better standards of life for themselves and their families. Their remittances back home are to take care of their families and cover the widening lacuna left by the profligacy of government.
Many questions arise from this political jamboree. What sense does it make for the Federal Government to select the five governors of some of the most terrorized states in Nigeria (Borno, Zamfara, Plateau, Kaduna and Anambra) to attend this jamboree when their states are battling murderous insecurity and deepening economic deprivation?
In some areas of these states, some communities have been deserted and surrendered to terrorists. How will such environments attract investors? What is the sense in including three ministers and other government officials in this jamboree, from a country that is borrowing heavily to fund its national budgets? Meanwhile, these people will travel with their respective aides to Canada, from a country whose debt had jumped to N159.35 trillion with little or nothing to show for what was borrowed.
