New Telegraph

Nigerians in the Diaspora remit $106.58bn in five years

In the last five years (2017-2021), Nigerians in the Diaspora remitted a total of $106.58billion back home, findings by New Telegraph show.

According to data obtained  from the World Bank, Nigerians in the diaspora remitted $22.04billion, $24.32billion, $23.81billion and $17.21billion in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 respectively.

 

Also, in its latest “Migration and Development Brief” released last Thursday, the Multilateral Development Bank disclosed that remittance inflows from Nigerians in the diaspora rose by 11.2 per cent to $19.2billion in 2021 from $17.21billion in the previous year. This means the country’s diaspora population remitted a total of $106.58billion in the five-year period.

According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, there were 1.7 million migrants from Nigeria in the diaspora as of 2020. However, analysts believe that the Niger

than what has been officially captured. In fact, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and the Diaspora, Mrs Abike Dabiri- Erewa, had said in 2017 that there were about 15 million Nigerians in the diaspora. Furthermore, National Bureau of Statistics’ (NBS) data indicates that six out of 100 householdsinNigeriareceive remittances from abroad.

 

With Nigeria’s large diaspora population, the country consistently ranks as the top remittance recipient in sub- Saharan Africa, according to World Bank data. For instance, in its latest Migration and Development Brief, theWorld Banksaid that remittanceinflowssoared 14.1 per cent to $49 billion in sub- Saharan Africa in 2021 primarily as a result of healthy rebound in Nigeria’s remittance inflows for the period.

 

As the Bretton Woods institution put it, “factors supporting a return to growth included economic activity in Europe and the United States, which remained firm, and a restoration of recorded inflows to Nigeria, which had slipped by about 28 per cent in 2020 due to increased use of informal channels. Recorded flows to Nigeria advanced by a healthy 11.2 per cent in 2021 to $19.2 billion, while flows to sub-SaharanAfricaexcluding Nigeria surged 16 percent to $30 billion in the year.”

 

The World Bank’s report also shows that Nigeria ranked eight on the list of 10 top remittance recipients among Low- and Middle- Income Countries (LIMC) in 2021, below countries, such as India, Mexico, China, Philippines, Egypt, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

 

The report stated: “Remittances are a major source of external finance to LMICs, compared to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), Official Development Assistance (ODA), and portfolio investments.

 

In the recession year 2020, remittances proved resilient and were the paramount source of international financing for developing countries, as FDI dropped 12 per cent on the back of declining global activity. Excluding China, the largest recipient of FDI, remittances have been the largest source of external finance for LMICs since 2016 and have measured about three times the size of ODA for over a decade.”

 

It further stated that the near-record growth of remittance flows to LMICs last year was driven primarily by migrants wanting to send money to support their families facing hardships back home, adding that migrants’ ability to send remittances was, “in turn, enabled by strong economic activity and employment levels in many large host countries that implemented fiscal stimulus programs”

 

 

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