Nigeria 2015: analysis of election issues and future prospects

The Nigerian diaspora

Size, location and character

Although there is general agreement that the Nigerian diaspora is large and spread far and wide, there is no single authoritative source on its size or location. Estimates of its total size vary from just over 1 million to 20 million people.³⁶⁶

It is often claimed that the largest concentrations of people of Nigerian heritage are to be found in the North America and Europe, although this has also been challenged, with one commentator estimating that 75% of the diaspora is based in other African countries, Asia and the Middle East. However, he argues that these emigrants are less educated and more likely to lose contact with their homeland.³⁶⁷

While there is certainly a significant element of ‘brain drain’ to North America and Europe (in 2007 the estimated migration rate of Nigerians with tertiary education was 36%), migration from Nigeria has been primarily driven by poverty and, to a lesser extent, conflict.³⁶⁸

Nigerians are well represented amongst the African migrants involved in clandestine, risky movements towards Europe, including by sea. For example, the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported in 2008 that there were at least 59,000 Nigerians without valid travelling documents in North Africa, trying to get to Western Europe. Nigeria is also an important centre for human trafficking of women and children to other countries.³⁶⁹

A focus on patterns of migration since independence should also not obscure the fact that there was large-scale forced migration between 1400 and 1900 as a result of the slave trade. One estimate puts the number of people enslaved and transported from what is now Nigeria at around two million.³⁷⁰

Remittances

Figures for the scale of remittances to Nigeria from today’s diaspora are also uncertain, although it is clear that the country is the largest recipient of remittances in sub-Saharan Africa.³⁷¹ The World Bank has reportedly estimated that Nigeria received about US $21 billion in remittances in 2012 – about 10% of its Gross National Product. The majority of this sum was remitted from the US and the UK.³⁷²

It is reasonable to assume that remittances currently play the same important role in helping to sustain many households as they do in other African countries, although concerns have been expressed that the level of support may tail off as family connections weaken over successive generations.³⁷³ The south-east and south-west of Nigeria are reported to benefit particularly strongly from remittance inflows from North America and Europe.³⁷⁴ Smaller sums make their way to northern Nigeria from the Gulf States.³⁷⁵

Nigerian government policies

The Nigerian authorities have established a range of policies and institutions in order to maintain and strengthen ties with the diaspora.

In 2001 the Nigerians in the Diaspora Organization was established. It now has branches across North America and Europe. In 2003 the Nigerian National Volunteer Service was also created in order to promote diaspora involvement in the country’s development efforts and, as far as possible, reverse the ‘brain drain’.

In 2002, the law was also changed to allow Nigerians abroad to hold dual citizenship. More recently, President Goodluck Jonathan has proposed establishing a Diaspora Commission within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; a bill to this is end was tabled in the National Assembly in 2010 but it is yet to become law.³⁷⁶

The Federal Government approved a ‘Diaspora Bond’ worth US$100-300 million, to be issued by the end of 2014, with a view to encouraging members of the diaspora to invest in the country.³⁷⁷ However, the Bond does not appear to have been issued at the time of writing.

The House of Representatives, the lower house of the National Assembly, has set up a Committee on Diaspora Affairs.³⁷⁸

Since 2007, 25 July has been marked as ‘National Diaspora Day’. However, these initiatives have been criticised as “at best ad hoc and pedestrian”.³⁷⁹

It has also been claimed that diaspora engagement in the economic and political life of the country has been held back by the way in which public authorities across Nigeria have traditionally taken steps to privilege the rights of ‘indigenes’ – that is, those whose ancestors came from a particular area – over those of ‘settlers’ or ‘strangers’.³⁸⁰ There have been calls to amend the Constitution to outlaw discrimination against ‘non-indigenes’.³⁸¹

In addition, there are calls for Nigerians abroad to be given the vote in elections. However, although President Goodluck Jonathan has indicated his support for the idea in principle, the Independent National Election Commission has ruled it out for the 2015 elections.³⁸²

A new unity?

The differing socio-economic origins and motivations of Nigerians migrating abroad since 1960 – as highlighted earlier – are, of course, further overlaid by ethnic, religious and regional differences.

All of these factors provide valuable social networks for migrants but they render it problematic to talk about a homogenous diaspora and inevitably they have an impact on official efforts to mobilise it for development purposes.³⁸³

However, there are signs that advances in new technology have the potential to create new, broader-based links around a national identity. On example is Nigerian Web Radio, a 24-hour online radio station. Satellite and cable television stations aimed at the diaspora have also been springing up.³⁸⁴

The Nigerian diaspora in the UK and US

The size of the Nigerian diaspora in the UK was estimated at around 150,000 in 2009, with approximately two-thirds living in London.³⁸⁵ This made Nigeria the ninth-largest source country for migration into the UK.

In 2013, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) estimated that there were 181,000 people living in the UK who were born in Nigeria, and 106,000 Nigerian nationals in the country.³⁸⁶ Workers of Nigerian origin are strongly represented in the public sector, with health and social care a particularly significant sphere of employment.³⁸⁷

If the UK connection is based on obvious historical and personal ties, the primary attraction of the US has been its reputation as a place of opportunity. The diaspora in the US has been estimated at 150 – 250,000.³⁸⁸ Houston, Texas, is the most popular city of residence for Nigerians in the US.³⁸⁹ John Campbell writes:

It has been a successful immigrant community characterized by entrepreneurship, strong family ties and an emphasis on education. Socially, it is generally conservative and evangelical or even Pentecostal in outlook.³⁹⁰

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