Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) has showcased the success stories of over 600 Nigerians in Diaspora, as part of the programme to Mark the country’s 60 Independence anniversary celebraton.
Nigeria got her independence from Great Britain on 1 October 1960.
As part of the celebration NiDCOM officially presented a Compendium of over 600 Nigerians abroad with amazing and inspiring success stories.
According to an e-signed, statement by Mr. Gabriel Odu, Media, Public Relations and Protocol Unit. NIDCOM, the compendium, titled ,“+600 Diaspora Icons @ 60″, was officially presented to the Hon Minister of State, Foreign Affairs, Amb. Zubairu Dada in his office in Abuja.
Amb Dada remarked that the Compendium will serve as an incentive for deserving Nigerians.
Amb. Dada maintained that it is a thing of pride for NiDCOM to identify well over 600 successful stories of Nigerians living in the Diaspora.
He encouraged the diasporans to regard this initiative by NiDCOM as a starting point and continue to give all their best in all they do and bring back expertise to the development of their country, Nigeria.
The Chairman/CEO NiDCOM, Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, said that the publication is aimed at celebrating Nigerian Icons across the globe.
According to her, “This is our contribution to Nigeria at 60 and we are telling the whole world that we are the best in the world. What we need to do is to get our values, leadership and attitude right”.
She added that, “today we formally present to you a production of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, celebrating Nigerians in the Diaspora. We wanted to celebrate 600 Diasporans but we realized that we can’t stop at 600 so we came up with the +600 at 60 Diaspora Icons”.
“First I want to apologize to my brothers and sisters in the diaspora, many names are still not here. This is the first edition, this initiative is a continuous process. There are so many successful stories that we could not accommodate here. We wouldn’t have known about a number of those profiled in this compendium if NiDCOM hadn’t decided to workon this publication to mark our Nation’s 60th anniversary.
This is a book that everybody should be proud of as a Nigerians.When you read through it, you will see how amazing Nigerians are doing all over the world. The challenge is that, if we are succeeding all over the world, how can we work with our home country to build a Nigeria of our dream”.
Speaking also, she said the Commission will continue to celebrate Nigerians in the Diaspora as NiDCOM will be starting her first Nigerian Diaspora Merit Award.
While noting that though there were some negative stories about activities of some Nigerians, the infinitesimal few do not represent the majority.
She further commended the staff of the Commission for their tireless efforts in making this first edition of the publication reality.
