Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, and other professionals and experts have urged Nigerians in the diaspora to continue to establish and maintain strong investment ties with their home country.
The advice was handed down at the Avenue Impact Winner Ball, an exclusive networking event for project professionals in the diaspora, which held in London on Sunday night.
Despite its inherent challenges, the NIDCOM chairman charged the diasporans to “continue to make us proud of being Nigerians.”
She added: “Key into our programmes. We have a Diaspora Mortgage Scheme where you get N50 million for a mortgage from the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria. This allows you to own your own homes in Nigeria without a third party.
“We also have the Diaspora Investment Summit. I am proud of the investments of Nigerians into the country in the areas of agriculture, food business, medicare etc. About 12 hospitals were set up in the last two years by diasporan doctors. Ours is to give you a platform to make it (your investments back home) easier for you.
“We also have the Diaspora Investment Trust Fund which is about getting all of you to pull resources together. If all of you in this room put £1,000 into an investment and you decide what you want to do with it positively. Let’s come together to build Nigeria and I think we are making a lot of progress in that regard.”
Speaking in the same vein, real estate expert and Chief Executive Officer of Pelican Valley Nigeria Limited, Dr Babatunde Adeyemo, urged the diasporans to only make strategic plans on their planned relocation back to Nigeria.
Adeyemo, who urged them not to wait until their retirement before making relocation plans back home, however, said such plans must be predicated on due diligence, particularly for those planning to invest in real estate.
He listed the factors to consider when making strategic exit plans from abroad into real estate in Nigeria including capital, due diligence, development and value-adding and goodwill.
“Due diligence is very key in a country like Nigeria because of its volatility and so that one would not fall into the hands of scammers or buy acquisition lands or a land that is on the right of ways. Ask for the government-approved layout. Once the land has a government-approved layout in Nigeria, you are safe.
“Research and check for reviews about the company online and offline. The world has become a global village. For example, I have been into this real estate business for over 14 years without a single dispute or court case. I have never been to the police for any land dispute. Those are some of the red flags you need to look out for.
“Another major red flag is aggressive marketing. When you see a real estate company doing aggressive marketing, you should know that something is chasing them. Real Estate is value driven and once you add values, you fly automatically,” he advised.
Earlier at the event, the organiser of the event and Director, Avenue Impact Limited, Funso Akinwunmi, said the event was part of the organisation’s contribution to the development of Nigeria, adding that “we have been contributing significantly to the economic growth of Nigeria through initiatives to empower Nigerians in the global diaspora, extending beyond the UK.”
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