By Harris Emmanuel
Arrays of international speakers are to attend the global summit on diaspora and migration matters put together by a group of Nigerians under the aegis of the NGA Diaspora Project 40/40. The event is slated for October 2 in Lagos at the CMD Conference, hall, Magodo.
Speakers across the continents are expected at the Simulcast/Hybrid Diaspora Global Conference to be streamed live in Austria and Belgium/Luxemburg chapters of Nigeria In Diaspora Organization Europe (NIDOE).
The Speakers include; Dr. Andrew S. Nevin, (Partner & Chief Economist) PwC Nigeria; Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, MD/CEO, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM); Kingsley Aikins, the CEO of The Networking Institute, Ireland; Kabir Mohammed, Director Learning & Development; Centre for Management Development (CMD) and Abiodun Odunuga, the Vice President of Friends of Nigeria (FON, France).
In a statement issued by the Media Adviser of the Project, Ajibola Abayomi, who doubles as the President of the Journalists International Forum For Migration (JIFORM), he explained that the “NGA Diaspora Project 40/40 is a social impact and creative Diaspora Engagement Initiative with the sole aim of bridging the existing gap between Nigerians at home and abroad.
The statement read in part; “We are leveraging on the symbolism of the number 40 to inspire a new narrative for Nigeria and Nigerians in general. The 40/40 represents 40 years of the “Nigerian emigration trends between 1981 and 2021.
“The initiative seeks to highlight the major wave of emigration history of the Nigerian Diaspora specifically narrowing it to between 1981 and 2021, out of which 40 stories reflecting the good, the bad and the ugly Diasporas would be crowd-sourced within the Nigerian Diaspora community across the world.
The stories would highlight lessons learnt, facilitate and amplify awareness on the available opportunities through shared experiences on regular migration and tips on best practices for the young Nigerians to copy.”
According to Ajibola, the goals of NGA Project 40/40 to include: Championing of advocacy on safe, regular and orderly migration; collating and sharing both the good and challenging stories of Nigerians in diaspora, celebrating their good side manifesting in remittances, investments, brain regain and sharing best practices learned abroad; recognizing the bold steps taken by them to improve Nigeria through the provision of infrastructures with support on investments and bridging the existing gap between the diasporas and fellow citizens at home”.
The summit will also feature a launch of an autobiography on one of the founding members of NIDOE Austria, Oluyemi Ogundele, and other publications.
The Project 40/40 and the Global Diaspora Conference is sponsored and supported by Middlechase Property Ltd and Brandcomms International, MADphilips Development Company Ltd.
Other collaborators and strategic partners include; NiDCOM, Centre for Management Development (CMD), JIFORM, Ecobank PLC, Wakaati TV, The Networking Institute, Everbill GmbH, Knowledge City, Creative Options and Oga Landlord Property Ltd.
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