Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu has urged the country’s overseas citizens to move beyond sending remittances home and start building productive stakes in the economy.
The president said remittances, though vital in sustaining millions of Nigerian households, must now become the floor of diaspora engagement rather than its ceiling.
“Nigeria sees you. Nigeria values you. Nigeria needs you,” President Tinubu said in remarks at the Nigeria Diaspora Economic Conference (NIDEC) 2026 in Toronto, Canada, that were delivered by Abdur-Rahman Balogu, an official at the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM).
The president said Nigeria’s economic indicators point to a country in genuine recovery.
He urged Nigeria’s diaspora to channel capital into agro-processing, healthcare, technology, energy, housing, logistics, mining, education, creative industries and export manufacturing.
Tinubu called on Nigeria’s diaspora to organise beyond personality-driven transactions into professionally governed investment clubs, sector funds, co-investment vehicles and venture networks.
He said that the government owed the diaspora predictable rules, transparent project pipelines, efficient consular services and stronger protection from fraud, noting that instruments such as the Non-Resident Nigerian Ordinary Account, the Non-Resident Nigerian Investment Account and the Non-Resident Bank Verification Number were practical steps to ease diaspora participation in the Nigerian financial system.
In her address, the chief executive of NiDCOM, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, said that the conference is an opportunity to deepen engagement with the Nigerian Diaspora by harnessing their expertise for national development and accelerated growth of the nation’s economy.
Dabiri-Erewa equally urged Nigerians abroad to see Nigeria not only as home but also as a destination for investment.
