In order to accommodate Nigerians living abroad, the House of Representatives Committee on Diaspora has promised to reintroduce the diaspora voting bill.
Tolulope Shadipe, Chairman of the Committee and member representing Oluyole federal constituency, stated this on Thursday when Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Nigerians in the Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), appeared before the Committee.
Dabiri-Erewa was in Abuja on Thursday to defend the Commission’s 2023 budget and 2022 budget performance before the National Assembly.
The National Assembly, according to Shadipe, will reintroduce the diaspora voting bill, which was rejected during the constitution amendment process. She stated that the bill allowing diaspora voting would pass this time because that is the direction the world is heading and Nigeria cannot afford to fall behind.
“We would be back with the bill, they are Nigerians and they have the right to vote in Nigerian elections,” she stated.
“The modalities and the issues that were raised the last time would be resolved and we would come back to it.”
The lawmaker also mentioned that the Committee was looking into the issue of people of Nigerian descent who are not currently Nigerians but want to return home after DNA tests revealed they had ties to the country.
Dabiri-Erewa, in her response, urged Nigerians to stop migrating to other countries if they did not have jobs there.
According to her, 80 percent of the prisoners in Dubai are Nigerians who arrived unemployed and got into trouble. The NIDCOM chief stated that stronger multi-sector collaboration was required to halt the trend.
The push for diaspora voting suffered a setback in March when the House of Representatives rejected the bill during the Constitution Amendment debate.
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