African Diaspora Centre of Excellence is expected to come on board before the end of 2023, NewsSpecng learnt
The centre which is to be established in Abuja will coordinate activities of integration of Africans in Diaspora back in the continent.
The centre of excellence was approved by the summit of African Heads of State in December 2022.
Speaking on the centre, Mr. George’s Rebelo Pinto Chikoti, Secretary-General, Organisation of Africans, Caribbean and Pacific States, (OACPS) said office accommodation has already been secured for the take off of the centre in Abuja.
Chikoti also revealed that the centre would be involved in galvanising the Africans in Diaspora to get involved in the development of the continent.
He said, “So the African diaspora that lives abroad needs to be integrated into the development of their countries.
So the Centre of Excellence will be working with authorities of Nigeria in Nigeria, to help them develop ideas or projects, but to make sure that the diaspora abroad is integrated in the development of our countries. And so the Centre of Excellence will be supporting not only Nigeria, but globally, the African region.”
He also noted that the centre will be getting support from Brussels, Belgium so as to be able to meet its core mandate.
He also added, “We believe that by the end of the year, I think we should be able to have the skeleton structure that will lead the office. So we’re not looking at something big, but we’re looking at the essential elements that we need.
“So we need a coordinator of that office. We need people with some experience who will begin the work and as the week goes by, then they will see how large they may become. But I think we need to have a starting point.”
Chikoti also lauded the government of Nigeria for providing office accommodation and other logistics for the take off of the centre.
He stressed that with over 17 million in Diaspora, the rest of the continent have a lot to learn from Nigeria.
He also added, “What we are saying is that if we create an Africa that is attractive, if it becomes attractive to invest back in Nigeria, then you will see that as people get older, they get fed up, they will want to come back to their countries. And this happens to most people, even most of us who studied in Europe in the 80s initially thought I’ll stay in Europe. But as you get older you say no, I want to go back to my country. So I believe that if we make our countries attractive and can attract investments and create good conditions for people to live, people will come back to the countries and l think this is something that I find in essence of the Nigerian model is like people went out and now they’re all coming back.”
