Chairman of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has said the Federal Government was pursuing compensation for Nigerians affected in the recent xenophobic attacks in South Africa.
Presenting a paper titled: “Role of Africans in Diaspora in the Transformation of a University of Technology, ” at the maiden Diaspora Lecture of Federal University of Technology, Akure, FUTA, she said the FG was also putting in place measures to ensure perpetrators were prosecuted and justice given.
Dabiri – Erewa, who was represented by her Special Assistant on Media, Mr. Abdul-Rahman Balogun, assured that those who have been evacuated to Nigeria would be well taken care of.
The Diaspora Commission boss equally called on state governments to create a Diaspora Desk, pointing out that Nigeria has the highest diaspora potentials in Africa and the third in the world.
The guest lecturer at the event, Prof. Mobolaji Aluko, a Special Adviser and Director-General, Office of Transformation, Strategy and Delivery Office in Ekiti, enjoined universities to sustain regular academic calendar.
He said Nigerian universities of technology should endeavour to have foreign students’ enrolment through scholarship programme for them.
The pioneer Vice Chancellor of Federal University, Otuoke, spoke further: “We need to start to develop scientific minds in all our children. We should not stop them from being inquisitive and they should walk in groups because nobody achieves anything individually.
“They should be given little problems to solve right from their primary school level.”
In his own remarks, the Vice Chancellor of FUTA, Prof. Joseph Fuwape, promised that FUTA would give fresh impetus to collaboration between researchers in Nigeria and abroad to promote national development.
He said that Africa was blessed with great human and material resources noting that Nigerians in particular had continued to contribute immensely to the global economy.
