Nigerian Embassy celebrates 48th Independence Day anniversary day with pomp
The Nigerian Embassy in Russia marked its country’s 48th independence anniversary on October 1 in Moscow with a myriad of high-profile events, which included a party for small Nigerian children, a brain-storming symposium by the Nigerian community in Russia, and topped the celebrations with an official banquette reception by H.E. Ambassador Timothy Shelpidi at the Diplomatic Corps’ Cultural Center on Ulof Palm Street for the members of the Diplomatic Corps and other well-wishers, who came to congratulate the nation and its citizens on this red-lettered day.
One of the highlights of the nearly a week-long celebrations was on September 27, when over 100 small children in Russia, including those of mixed Russian and Nigerian parentage, gathered on the Embassy’s premises on Malaya Nikitskaya Street, where they were feasted, dined, entertained and presented with several gifts by the Embassy to enable the children to get the real feel of the National Day celebrations here in Moscow as they marked the historic occasion faraway from their 
native land.
Brainstorming symposium on Nigeria’s past, present and future
The celebrations assumed “academic flavors” on September 28, when Nigerians resident in Moscow and other major Russian cities gathered at a brainstorming symposium, titled, “The Role of the Nigerian Diaspora Community in the Socio-Economic Development of their Home Country” and later conducted the Brain-of-the-Year-Quiz competition among Nigerian students in Russian universities, where the growing youth displayed their knowledge of Nigeria’s past and current affairs.
The guest speakers at the symposium covered all aspects of Nigerian history and development, from the current crisis at the Niger Delta region — caused by the local residents’ justified claims to the ‘inequitably smaller share of the ‘petrodollars’ or, more appropriately, the ‘petro-nairas’ being received by the areas, which are generating the lion’s share of these windfall oil revenues” — which has become a huge negative blot on the nation’s image on the international arena. Other key issues covered by the symposium included the nation’s current political system, its economic and social development as envisioned in the official ‘Program-2020’ by the current presidential administration, and finally, the role that the Nigerian Diasporas abroad can play in helping the country to achieve its stated development objectives.
“Nigeria needs all its citizens to develop further because it has invested seriously in its nationals abroad, as some had either gone there on federal scholarships or through other state-sponsored programs.”
Emphasizing the role of the Nigerian Diasporas abroad at the opening of the symposium, H.E. Ambassador Olusola Ojo, the deputy head of Mission in the Nigerian Embassy, said unlike in the past, when less emphasis in the country’s official development policy was placed on Nigerian Diasporas in foreign countries, the present administration of President Umaru Yar’Adua intends to generously tap the Diasporas’ huge resources in his policy on nation’s building. “This is because Nigeria needs all its citizens to develop further because it has invested seriously in its citizens abroad, as some had either gone there on federal scholarships or through other government-sponsored programs,” he said. “Now, it is the time for all Nigerians abroad to show their patriotism and commitment to the development of their native country.”
Larry Ubochi, the chairman of the Panel and events moderator at the symposium, noted that Nigeria was one of the few former British colonies to gain its independence without bloodshed, one of the major reasons to always hold the political and economic freedom won by our forefathers on Oct. 1, 1960 in high esteem. Comparing nation’s building to human lifespan, Ubochi — the treasurer of The Nigerian Community in Russia (TNCR), who holds an MSc degree in Computer Engineering and currently undergoing PhD programs in Computer Sciences — noted that unlike human beings, who at 48 years, are at the peak of maturity, the same cannot be said for a nation, as such age in the annals of historical development of countries, amounts only to early infanthood.
Panelists call on Nigeria to engage more on capacity building
Panelist Cyril Ohiara, an expert in international relations and economics, and CEO of Civarol Consultant, a firm specializing on the provision of management expertise on FDIs, called on the Nigerian government to boost ‘capacity building’ among its citizens — both at home and abroad — in order to become a truly influential country on the continental and global arenas. “This will entail judiciously tapping all the citizens’ expertise, boosting patriotism and encouraging all forms of mutually beneficial business partnerships between Nigerian companies and representatives of the Diasporas in foreign countries to increase trade, investment and other economic activities between Nigeria and other countries with large and influential Nigerian Diasporas. Also, highlighting the importance of the Diasporas in national development, one of the panelists, TNCR Secretary-General Rex I. Essenowo, who holds an MSc degree in Business Economics and Management, called the Nigerian Diasporas abroad “the first ‘battalion’ in terms of defending of Nigeria’s national interests in foreign countries.”
“The Nigerian Diasporas abroad are the nation’s first ‘battalion’ in terms of defending of its interests in foreign countries.”
Another panelist, TNCR President Bashir Obasekola — a PhD holder in Finance and Accounting, who is currently working as a finance manager for Independent Media Sanoma Magazines, the publisher of The Moscow Times and several other journals in Russia — named lack of trust one of the major negative factors hindering more investment flows into Nigeria from diasporas abroad or the low positive effects generated by these resources in the country. For instance, Obasekola and other panelists, citing Nigerian Finance Minister Shamsuddeen Usman’s data, put the sums of remittances from Nigerians abroad at $10.5bln in 2006 and $17.9bln in 2007, while the pre-financial-crisis prognosis for 2008 stood at $25bln. Talking about these billions of dollars reportedly remitted by Nigerian diasporas back to their home country every year, the panelists and other speakers from the floor specifically noted that the highly anticipated positive impacts from this colossal sum are at present not really felt in the national economy because most of it goes into the 
procurement of consumable goods and services, instead of being rerouted into viable investment projects that could really create added values to the financial efforts from abroad.
To boost the positive effects of the inward-bound investments, the Nigerian Diasporas abroad, according to Obasekola, intend to create about a $200bln investment fund that will be managed by banks, which can create modern banking instruments and other financial products that will help boost the productivity of such external financial inputs into the Nigerian economy. “This is because there is an acute need for these investments to generate multiplication effects through the creation of more job opportunities, infrastructural development and improvement of the existing social amenities, all which will eventually lead to raising the living and general welfare standards of ordinary Nigerians.”
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