Nigeria Set to Establish African Diaspora Center
According to the Organization of Africans, Caribbean, and Pacific States, Abuja, Nigeria would become home to the African Diaspora Center of Excellence.
The center, which is anticipated to open before the end of 2023, will organize efforts to reintegrate Africans from the diaspora into their own continent.
The summit of African Heads of State in December 2022 approved the center of excellence.
Speaking about the center over the weekend, OACPS Secretary-General George Chikoti, who was in Nigeria for the just finished Second Global African Diaspora Symposium, said that office space had already been reserved for the center’s launch in Abuja.
Chikoti further said that the center would play a role in inspiring Africans living abroad to contribute to the advancement of the continent.
Therefore, he continued, “Africans in the diaspora who live abroad must be included in the development of their nations.
In order to ensure that the diaspora overseas is incorporated in the growth of our countries, the Center of Excellence will collaborate with Nigerian authorities there to help them create ideas or projects. Therefore, the Center of Excellence will support Africa as a whole, not just Nigeria.
In order for the center to fulfill its primary goal, he also mentioned that Brussels, Belgium, will be providing help.
Chikoti said, “We hope we should be able to have the skeleton structure that will head the office by the end of the year. So instead of looking at something large, we focus on the fundamental components that we require.
“So, that office needs a coordinator. We need somebody with some expertise who will start the task and gauge its potential size as the week progresses. But I believe we need to get going somewhere.
“What we’re arguing is that if we make Africa appealing, if it becomes appealing to invest in Nigeria again, then you’ll notice that as people become older and more weary, they’ll long to return to their home nations. Most people experience this, including those of us who studied abroad in Europe in the 1980s. At first, I had assumed I would remain in Europe. But as I get older, I object and say I want to return home.”
