The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) has revealed that the UK is home to the most registered Nigerians living abroad.
In an effort to mobilise comprehensive and accurate data on Nigerians living abroad, NiDCOM unveiled its Data Mapping and Registry Portal in Abuja on June 29, 2021.
As of the time this article was filed, Diasporans from 28 different nations have registered on the portal, according to the information analysed by MDB on Wednesday.
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The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs estimated Nigeria’s diaspora population to be 1.7 million in 2020, despite the commission not providing a statistic for the entire number of registered diasporas.
According to the breakdown of the data provided by NiDCOM, there are 5.4% of registered Diaspora Nigerians in the United Arab Emirates and 22.5% of registered Diaspora Nigerians in the United States.
Other nations with significant percentages include Qatar (4.8%), Canada (4.4%), South Africa (4.0%), Germany (2.5%), Saudi Arabia (2.3%), Italy (2.3%), Gnana (1.5%), Malaysia (1.1%), France (0.9%), Spain (0.9%), and Uganda (0.7%).
The data also showed that Australia had 0.7 per cent; China, 0.7 per cent; the Benin Republic, 0.7 per cent; Sierra Leone, 0.7 per cent; Turkey, 0.7 per cent; Switzerland; 0.7 per cent; Russia, 0.6 per cent; Philippines, 0.6 per cent; Niger Republic, 0.6 per cent; Ireland, 0.6 per cent; Ukraine with 0.5 per cent; and Kyrgyzstan, 0.1 per cent.
Speaking on the low registration, the NiDCOM’s Head of Technology Transfer Innovation, Abdulrahman Terab, said “Most Diasporas are just gaining confidence in the country. We try as much as possible that the Diasporas register online whenever we have programmes, events, or activities.”
