Date:
01
March 2008 (Saturday)
Time:
13.00 – 17.00 Hours
Place:
Werkstatt der Kulturen,
Wissmannstr. 32, 12049 Berlin
(Please click on the address above for direction)
Grey
Okute
General Secretary
President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua
meets with Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation Germany
Within the framework of his participation in the G8 Summit in
Heiligendamm, Germany, President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua created
space and time to meet his fellow-countrymen and women in his
first visit outside the country. Ambassador Abdul Rimdam
provided the venue for this singular occasion and hosted the
newly-born President and their Fellow-Nigerians at a dinner on
June 08th, 2007, at his residence.
In his opening speech, the grand host thanked President Yar'Adua
for giving him the opportunity to be the first ambassador to
play host to him, although, Ambassador Abdul Rimdam himself got
his letter of accreditation as the Nigerian ambassador to
Germany on June 01st, 2007 from President Köhler. He
pleaded with His Excellency for a Chancery Building in a more
befitting district of the City of Berlin.
In his welcome address, the president of Nigerians in
Diaspora Organization Germany(NIDO-Germany), Dr.
Peter Agwi thanked His Excellency Umaru Musa Yar'Adua of
this honour given Nigerians to meet and interact with him. It
was a special occasion, because it was his first visit abroad
after his ascension to power as the President of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria on May 29th, 2007. “We are indeed
greatly honoured”, he reiterated.
Moreover, Dr. Agwi congratulated all Nigerians at home and
abroad for a relatively successful transition from one civilian
government to another. This is a milestone in the history of
civilian rule in Nigeria.
“Democracy is a process of communication and negotiation. We
hope Your Excellency, that you will use your good offices, to
put structures in place in Nigeria, that will enhance the
democratic process in our great motherland,” he added.
Peter Agwi stated the overall aim of Nigerians in Diaspora
Organisation has being the harnessing of the diverse skills and
resources of Nigerians living abroad towards national
development. He explained the short-term objectives of NIDO in
her efforts to achieve the above-mentioned overall aim as
outlined on the homepage of the organisation:
www.nidogermany.org.
“The importance of the contributions of Diaspora to their home
countries` GDP in terms of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
cannot be over emphasised,” he said. Moreover, Nigeria benefits
from such direct inflow of capital through remittance: according
to the Central Bank of Nigeria, such capital inflow from the
Nigerians in Diaspora was $7.5 Billion USD for the 2006 fiscal
year, this is more than the GDP of certain countries. Therefore,
the Diaspora is a source
of financial flow and economic
opportunities on one hand, and a resource for technology
transfer and political support for the home country, on the
other.
It is hoped, that the new administration would continue to pool
resources from qualified and competent Nigerians in Diaspora in
the area of management and governance. Dr. Agwi calls on the
Federal Government to build on the success of the last
administration in the involvement of Nigerians abroad in the
affairs of the nation in various capacities and strengthen the
communication between our brothers and sisters at home and those
abroad, through the continuation of the annual Science and
Technology Conference taking place in Abuja, and by upholding
July 25th, as the Diaspora Day.
Moreover, the promulgation of a "law-making Blueprint for
Diaspora Policy," which is currently before the National
Assembly will further enhance a sustainable co-operation between
Nigeria and her diaspora worldwide. It is believed, that when
passed into law, Nigerians abroad will be able to participate
more effectively in Nigeria's electoral processes and perform
other civic duties, for example, they will be able to vote by
proxy.
NIDO works, and is always ready to work with the federal, state
und local governments, as well as with the private sector to
attract investment and development into the country. Therefore,
NIDO-Germany calls for the re-establishment of the information
department in all foreign missions. This should be named
Nigerian Investment Information Centre with the aim of
promoting investment into Nigeria and facilitating business
partnership through
authentic and real time information; organising and
participating in local
seminars, workshops, trade fairs etc in partnership with NIDO;
providing advisory services to potential investors; assisting
Nigerians in Diaspora who wish to invest in Nigeria and
facilitating more Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflow into
the Nigerian economy; bringing the state governments, Nigerian
businesses and potential foreign investors on the same platform,
thereby helping the investors to identify the investment
opportunities available; providing knowledge and support to
investors at all stages of their business decision-making
process.
Nigeria needs such a centre to boost her attraction of investors
and
succeed in an increasingly competitive global economy.
Having listened to the President’s wonderful and visionary
speech yesterday at the German Business Community Economic Forum
in Berlin, NIDO-Germany has no alternative than to support the
programmes and projects of the new administration. Dr. Agwi
assured the President of NIDO’s support for his government’s
planning, implementation and evaluation of these programmes.
In conclusion, on behalf of all Nigerians in Germany in general,
and members of NIDO in particular, Dr. Agwi thanked His
Excellency
Umaru Musa Yar'Adua
once again for this August occasion, and wished him
and his entire team a successful
tenure and safe journey back home.
The newly-elected president of Nigerian Community Germany also
welcomed the President and wished him all best in his tenure.
In his response to the speeches, President Umaru
Musa Yar'Adua thanked all present for being good
ambassadors of Nigeria and urged them to join him in the
struggle to make the country a better place for current
and future generations.
The President stated his priority areas as being the
provision of energy and power, security, education and
mass transit.
"We have the talents, the resources, the capacity, the
capabilities to do it, and I call on all Nigerians, no
matter where you are, to join me." Thus, every Nigerian,
who has something to contribute, would be given the
opportunity to participate, adding that only Nigerians
could determine their own Future today.
We as change agents, are constantly making choices.
Thus, according to President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, "What
we are in the future is what we choose today. We must
choose the attitudes necessary to succeed - honesty,
sincerity, hard-work and reject those attitudes that
will lead us to destruction."
"We must come together and transform our nation. This
transformation is possible, here and now while we live.
The era of the elitist leadership is over. This is the
dawn of the era of the servant leader. I will be a
servant leader, and anybody who wants to be with me must
follow suit,” the President appealed to all.
President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua commended Nigerians in
Germany once again for the reports of good conduct he
received, and urged them to continue to be good
ambassadors of our common motherland, Nigeria.
We have the pleasure to inform you about the formation of
standing working committees and invite you to
register in areas of your interest as a member in one of the
following committees:
Please click on any of the above (interested) committees to
register now as a committee member.
The committees shall be structured to have Chairman, Secretary
and Members with constitutional powers to work and execute their
programmes.
We thank you for fulfilling your part in NIDO and contributing
to the development of our great country NIGERIA
COMMUNIQUE OF
THE CONSOLIDATION MEETING
The
newly-elected Executive Committee of Nigerians in Diaspora
Organisation (NIDOE Germany) meets today with the leaders of
all associations of people of Nigerian descent to discuss a
common strategy for working together towards effective
contribution to the developmental process of our motherland
Nigeria with a panel discussion on the following theme:
Building
a Solid Foundation for our Development
with the presentation of papers by His
Excellency Tony Eze, the Charge d’ Affairs of the
Embassy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to Germany;
Dr. Peter O. Agwi, President Nigerians
in Diaspora Organisation (NIDO-Germany) and Dr. Daniel Ubani, Chairman Protem, Citizen Watch – Nigerians in Diaspora.
All
participants acknowledge the step taken by NIDOE-Germany
in her capacity as an umbrella organization of all
Nigerian professionals, academics and entrepreneurs in Germany,
to establish a forum for dialogue, thereby
creating room to clear any misconception of what she stands for,
by fellow-Nigerians. Although found by some participants as
relatively short, the forum offers all parties the opportunity
to express their view points and as such, it is a success story,
for the developmental process begins with exchange of opinions.
We look forward to more of this type of fora.
However, it had not been expected, that there
would be consensus on all issues. Yet, all parties agree on the
fact, that NIDOE-Germany has a role to play in the
socio-economic and political development of their motherland
Nigeria. Moreover, there is consensus on the fact, that unity is
a prerequisite to making our concerted efforts felt in this
process. Thus, in order to achieve our long-term overall aim of
maximizing our impact in the development of Nigeria, we
have arrived at the following resolutions:
·
To consolidate our organization and efforts by integrating all
Nigerian associations in Germany, and forming working committees
within
NIDOE-Germany
to cater for the needs of various interest groups; making the
membership of
NIDOE-Germany
accessible to all Nigerians living in Germany, who are
interested in contributing to national development.
·
To develop an aggressive strategy of engagement and cooperation
with our host country by introducing
NIDOE-Germany
to various state agencies for development and civil society
organizations; collecting useful data for Nigeria; sponsoring
training, research and policy fora; and going into partnership
with donors for Nigeria.
·
To engage with the home front and our counterparts in Nigeria
through capacity building; Nigerian government exchange
programme on diaspora professional skills request; permanent and
temporary reintegration support schemes; government policy to
integrate diasporians through proxy voting right; Non-Residence
Act, that will grant a permanent residence status to Nigerians
in Diaspora, those who have taken the citizenship of their host
countries; investment Incentives based on government land and
housing, mortgage, stocks etc.
The short-term objectives for 2007 will be achieved through business network: seminars, workshops and conferences
on quarterly basis in collaboration with different German state
chambers of commerce, with the specific objective of sensitizing
the German business community for investment in Nigeria;
business building seminar: networking opportunity for
members only; and NIDO international forum
to bring our colleagues all over the world together in order to
exchange information, share ideas, and brainstorming.
With the motto: “You cannot change
the direction our country is going until you start participating
in her activities”, NIDOE-Germany invites every Nigerian in
Germany to national service.
Net working and Continuous
Learning – Do we need them or not?
Our dream
Nigeria – The Challenges
Career counselors insist that we all need networking
and continuous learning to become or stay
successful. Motivators have even bated on this. They
insist that to develop and maintain the tempo
necessary for both work and live success, we need to
network and learn continuously.
Some one once asked me what do I mean by networking
and continuous learning. They are simple terms but
very difficult for a lot of people to practice
though they are very essential. Networking is simply
establishing and maintaining important contacts
while continuous learning is being open and ready to
explore or pick new information every day of your
life. These information culminates to knowledge. You
see, in a common language, they are very simple.
Why is this important for us in NIDO? It is ofcourse
important for us in NIDO because, NIDO is a perfect
portal for both networking and continuous learning.
We can support each other to rise higher thereby
increasing our country’s potentials. We can also
learn from each other since we are specialists in
different fields. This also increases our country’s
potentials. Our professionals should feel free to
meet themselves and be willing to impact knowledge
to each other. We should all network. After all, no
man is an island. You never really will know how big
or small you are until you step outside your
territory. Some times, one may feel that he/she is
big only to realize after a visit to some other
place that he/she is just starting. Like wise, one
may feel that he/she is not making it only to
realize at a certain place that he/she is actually a
big fish compare to the situation staring at
him/her.
Besides, of what benefit is it when one live and die
without impacting his/her greatness to others around
him/her. It is surprising that some people find
reasons to hate themselves or even fight themselves
in NIDO instead of fostering friendship. We must
never forget that live is only a breath away and can
end any day. What then are we fighting for when
nothing lasts for ever. Let us come together,
network, learn from each other, grow wiser and
together, pull our country to prosperity.
It's
good to believe that we all have some kinds of
dreams for Nigeria. Never mind those sleepers who
believe that Nigeria will never be better. Every
developed country you see today passed through
developmental torments and torrents. They did not
just wake up and stepped into development and
maturity. Europe and America were once worst than
Nigeria is today. One day, Nigeria will become fully
developed. After all, we are developing.
Having said this, I now ask, what is our dream
Nigeria? We have different views of our dream
Nigeria but good enough, all the views form a
pyramid pointing to one spot even though the base
spreads wide – We all want the best Nigeria that can
be – a developed Nigeria. Some say their dream
Nigeria is a Nigeria where corruption will be no
more. Some say it is a Nigeria where security of
lives and property will be secured. Some say it is a
Nigeria where the roads will be wide and smooth.
Some say it is a Nigeria where the leaders will be
more responsible, responsive and conscientious. Some
say it is a Nigeria where employment will be
provided and poverty eradicated. Some say it is a
Nigeria where schools will be equipped and modern
libraries created.
Some say it is a Nigeria where electricity will
never seize to light. Some say it is a Nigeria where
markets will be constructed to reflect that traders
are human beings and not pigs. Some say it a Nigeria
where the streets will be clean and lighted. Some
say it is a Nigeria where recreational parks will be
created and enabled. Some say it is a Nigeria where
hospitals will be equipped and the doctors and
nurses better trained. Some say it is a Nigeria
where sick people would be picked by equipped
ambulances and more lives saved. Some say it is a
Nigeria where people will attend driving schools
before driving and the roads made safer.
Some say it is a Nigeria where food can be processed
and preserved and even exported. Some say it is a
Nigeria where homes will have assess to pipe borne
water and diseases reduced. Some say it is a Nigeria
where public servants will learn to resign when they
are no longer wanted and when it is obvious that
they are inadequate for the responsibility they are
assigned. Some say it is a Nigeria where children
will be taught by teachers and not people who are
just looking for daily bread. Some say it is a
Nigeria where businesses will be licensed according
to training and experience and no more carpenters
being licensed to open clinics and maternities and
brick layers being licensed to open schools. Some
even say it is a Nigeria where mega shops such as
plus, lydl, Aldi, Tesco, media markt, Wallmarkt,
Penny markt, Schleker, etc will be seen scattered
all over the places like we see here. Some say it is
a Nigeria where industries will increase and
importation reduced.
Do you know what? My dream Nigeria is a Nigeria
where all the above exist and even better things
added. I dream of a Nigeria where the Europeans and
Americans will come to take aduro. After all, they
love to spread themselves out in the sun. Why not?
Every thing we need for this is in Nigeria. The only
thing we lack is will – political will to serve
responsibly and conscientiously, civil will to keep
rules and regulations and obey the law, social will
to act responsibly and sensibly so that others can
be, economic will to work and earn clean living,
religious will to live what we preach, patriotic
will to contribute to the growth and upliftment of
our country, etc.
It is every Nigerian’s responsibility to make
Nigeria realize our dreams for her. Come and help.
Nigeria needs you.
Knowledge is power,
information is strength – What can Knowledge do for
us? What can information do?
“Knowledge is power” is an old adage which all of us
are well familiar with. However, recent developments
topped by technology have factorized information as
very vital to the administration of knowledge. This
trend can be confusing if one fails to observe the
trend and pay close attention to reasoning.
The
trend is that no matter how knowledged one may be,
he/she needs information to remain meaningful. If
you keep away from information, you become obsolete
within hours. No wonder people are paying heavily to
join professional bodies and other associations. If
we say that knowledge is power while information is
strength, can any of them do without each other? My
answer is no. Knowledge without information could be
very dangerous. Those who did physics in the
secondary schools in Nigeria in the sixties,
seventies and even eighties could still hold that
atom is the smallest indivisible part of an element
if they are not informed of the new discoveries.
Knowledge without information is therefore not to be
trusted.
We
must always maintain a balance of knowledge and
information. It is wise to ensure that you are
informed in your profession. This is the standard
for NIDO. Yet, it is not enough to be knowledged and
informed. If you are knowledged and informed, you
should share your knowledge and inform others –
inform other Nigerians. Why do we have people who
hoard knowledge and information as if it hurts so
much to release them? As if by keeping them to
themselves, they become immortalized? Why do we
often forget that these knowledge and information
never originated from us? And why do we act as if we
forget that one day, we shall seize to exist? Is it
not this attitude of hoarding that led to hoarding
of public funds and public property?
I
wish to appeal to the members of NIDO and the
members of the Nigerian knowledged and informed
community to open up and share – share your
knowledge – share your information. This is the
greatest legacy you can leave behind you when you
seize to exist. Your children’s children to the
great great generation may benefit from the
knowledge and information you drop today. Do it, it
is important. Tell us what you know and try to hear
what we have to tell you. This way, we share
knowledge, we share information.
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