NiDCOM warns students against seeking admission in Northern Cyprus

By Ukpono Ukpong

The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) has warned Nigerian students seeking admission to avoid Northern Cyprus noting that the country is very dangerous place to stay as a foreigner.

Chief Executive Officer, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Hon Abike abiri-Erewa disclosed this at the 48th session of the State House briefing organised by the Presidential Communications Team at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Dabiri-Erewa lamented that several Nigerian students have been killed in the past while the home country has fails to take any actions bring perpetrators to book.

She said that the Nigerian government can hardly intervene in such a situation considering that Northern Cyprus is not a United Nation recognised country.

“Northern Cyprus we had to mention Northern Cyprus, because honestly it’s been a lot of problem over there. So we have some youth come and tell us please, tell everybody stop going to Northern Cyprus.

“Of course we did that sometime ago and some said how can you tell people not to go there and I’m saying it again, if you are going to Northern Cyprus, you have to think twice about it.

“Over 20 students have been killed over the years and nothing happened. So these students came themselves and said they have to embark on awareness that don’t go to these places. Northern Cyprus is recognised only by Turkey. It’s not a UN recognised country.

“So if you run to Nigeria, we can’t do much but our students are being killed on a daily basis and nothing is happening. So again, I’m going to appeal that we need to take a strong decision about a place like Northern Cyprus.” She said

She however, commended President Muhammadu Buhari whom she described as Diaspora friendly president for ensuring that all stranded Nigerian students are brought back to the country, especially, from Ukraine.

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Speaking further, she stressed the need for the National Assembly to consider Diaspora voting in the coming elections.

“I think what we need to do is just keep appealing to understand the fears and sentiments, which is the fact that okay, maybe our elections are not yet perfect. We’re still experimenting, so they understand their fears. What I’m saying is that we need to sit down again, analyse this fear and see how we can do about it.

“Our National Assembly should give INEC the powers to start Diaspora voting when the infrastructure is ready.”

She did that the contributions of Diaspora cannot be over emphasised as just last year, Diaspora Home Remittances stood at $20 billion while Foreign Direct Investment was $4.8 billion.

“It is pertinent for Nigeria and Nigerians to know the importance of Nigerians in the diaspora because they have continued to contribute their skills and resources to the development of Nigeria in various sector such as health, education, technology, finance, transportation, housing entertainment etc.

“In 2021, Diaspora Home Remittances was $20.00 billion while Foreign Direct Investment was $4.8 billion.

“Diaspora Home Remittances therefore is four times our FDI and contributes about 6.1% of our annual GDP. Our Diaspora are now an economic factor for development which we have coined a term Diaspora Direct Investment (DDI).