Nigeria’s finance minister Kemi Adeosun, has said the $300 dollars Diaspora bond approved by the National Assembly would be rolled out in March.

Adeosun, who hosted the Senior Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa, in Abuja on Tuesday said the bond would hopefully be rolled out in March this year.

“The Diaspora bond which the National Assembly has approved is where Nigerians in the Diaspora who wants to invest can key into; we are hoping that by March the Diaspora bond will be rolled out.

“Beyond that of course, the investment opportunities in Nigeria are very huge, a lot of Diasporans who are interested in investing at home are encouraged to do so.

“Government is putting in place a lot of incentives such as infrastructures; and also creates conducive environment for investment to thrive, we are encouraging them to come back home and join the trend,” she said.

According to her, the Ministry of Trade and Investment is working on ease of doing business and to reduce the bottlenecks, bureaucracy and a lot of red tapes hindering people from doing businesses.

Adeosun, who was optimistic that 2017 would be a better year for Nigeria, said the country was going to overcome its challenges.

The minister, therefore, urged that all hands must be on deck to restore the economy.

“We are very confident that Nigeria is going to overcome its challenges; we have to ensure that we invest and ensure that the economy is moving,” she said.

The minister also said that government had other incentives in place for the Diaporans, including Diasporan Housing Scheme that will save them a lot of difficulties in becoming a landlord at home.

“One of the initiatives of the Ministry of Finance is the family home funds which has two aspects that provide funds for development of housing.

“So we are funding mass housing development, such as 400, 1000 housing units at a time. We are also providing funding for our people where they can purchase houses,” she said.

Dabiri-Erewa had earlier said that there was the need to engage the Diaspora to contribute their quota to the development of the country.

According to her, Nigerians in Diaspora deserve to be engaged, deserve to be part of the government policies and programmes for the sake of every one of us and we need a symbiotic relationship.

She noted with pleasure that the remittance from the Diasporan into the economy of the country increased from 21 billion dollars in 2015 to 35 billion dollars in 2016.

The presidential aide said the Diasporans needed to be encouraged to invest more at home.

She stressed the need to actively involve the Diaspora in the bond which she said they were eagerly waiting for its take-off.

Dabiri-Erewa urged the minister to carry Nigerians in the Diaspora in the enlightenment campaign and other road shows on the Diaspora bond.

“We want the Diaspora to be part of the show because they are eagerly waiting for that.

“Because the bond is an emotional thing stressing about contributing to your country and investing in your country we will want to know when it will become a reality,” she said. (Isaac Aregbesola/NAN)

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