By Milton Tella – An interesting discussion centred around why the success stories of Nigerians in the diaspora, especially in the United Kingdom have not had a huge impact at home was tabled at a gathering of Nigerians and some British of Nigerian descent at The Landmark Hotel London on Sunday 19 Sept’ 2021.
It was an evening with Dr. Olusegun Aganga (CON) former MD, Goldman Sachs London, former Nigeria Minister of Finance, former Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment when he hosted a dinner in honour of His Excellency, Amb. Sarafa Isola, Nigeria High Commissioner to the UK. In attendance were selections of highly successful British Nigerians professionals making significant impact to the UK economy.
Ambassador Sarafa Isola, set his goal as that of improving the British Nigeria relations, which are currently at its lowest ebb.
The Ambassador further explained his efforts at reorganising the immigration section of the Nigeria High Commission to ensure that passport issuance is placed on automation. He said, “Within three months, the Mission has been able to clear a backlog of 18months due to the pandemic lockdown resulting in 28,000 passports issued.”
He hinted that the Nigeria Immigration Service would soon be issuing the enhanced passports with some having 10 years validity, this will reduce the frequency of renewals.
He expressed concern that the Netherlands has overtaken Britain in trade with Nigeria. Britain is now the 5th investor after the Netherlands. He challenged the British Nigerians to do more to market Nigeria to the British people.
The discussion focussed on how to promote the image of Nigeria, to show Britain how to understand where to invest in Nigeria, to let the British people know there is more to Nigeria beyond oil. A suggestion was tabled around the possibility of celebrating Nigeria Day once a year in London, to showcase business people, film industry, music industry, arts, private equity firms, some of the outstanding Nigerians in the UK and some things around the culture sector.
Former Finance Minister, Olusegun Aganga, on his part, suggested the need for Nigerians to organise themselves properly, leverage their power and importance in the scheme of things.
He emphasised, “The need to let Britain know that Nigerians in the UK are not only successful; we are significant in the scheme of things. There are highly successful British Nigerians in the UK. This is not about some illegal immigrants in Britain.
“There are highly successful Nigerians in the UK. We need to organise programmes to bring out the best of Nigeria. We need to showcase ourselves properly for the British to know that we do have some level of influence especially when it comes to politics.”
He advised that Nigerians should desist from sending out negative news about Nigeria. He said Nigerians should know that there is sovereign goodwill that we all benefit from or lose from. What we say about ourselves matters a lot. We all suffer from the negative news we circulate about ourselves.
Amb. Isola also challenged the Nigerian Diaspora community to help develop Nigeria. He said, “If Nigeria is to develop and get better, the Nigerians in the UK will have to drive it and create the development we seek as no other nation will do it for us. After all, Late Awolowo and his contemporaries were studying in the UK when they initiated most of the developments like Cocoa House, Ilupeju and Ikeja Industrial Estates, which are still thriving today. The British Nigerian Diaspora community have the capacity and the experience to do the same and even more.”
He advised the Diaspora to operate more as a group rather than as individual champions. He asked where he could find 1000 Nigerians in the UK converging to run an agenda, citing that as the difference between Nigerians, the Indians and the Jews. He asked why there are no Nigerian schools similar to the French schools in the UK. “These are things that can bond us. These things are created. Nobody will come to create them for us.”
Amb. Isola said he is eager to see Nigerians in the UK create the structure to ensure a sustained engagement. A place to regularly meet, plan and execute programmes.
Examples were made of the Swedish community in London. With a population of about 50,000, they have a Cemetery, Cultural centre, Chamber of commerce and Swedish restaurants in London. The result is that trade between Sweden and Britain is fantastic.
Ambassador Isola said, he is pointing his searchlight and eager to headhunt for British Nigerians who are willing to commit funds and meet exclusively to work on building structures.
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