Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State has thanked Nigerians in the Diaspora for their relentless contributions to national development through their various activities in their countries of residence.
This is as Abians in the Diaspora announced plans to launch the “Abia Diaspora Educational Endowment Fund,” which would provide annual scholarships for 60 students, drawn from across the state, later this year.
Ikpeazu hailed them for their commitment to critical issues at home, stressing that remittances and returns from Nigerians in the Diaspora were key elements in national development.
The Abia State governor made this known last week, when he received a delegation of Diaspora Nigerians that paid him a courtesy visit at the Governor’s Lodge, Abuja, as part of the National Diaspora Day organised by the Nigerian in the Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), held in Abuja.
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He particularly hailed Abia indigenes in the Diaspora for keeping faith with his administration, through the creation of critical linkages through which different kinds of assistance come home.
He recounted with delight, the various donations of medical equipment from Abians in the Diaspora, which had helped to boost health care delivery in the state, and appealed to them to move a step further and invest in human development, by giving scholarships and grants to bright and indigent students at home.
He promised that his administration would continue to create strong partnerships with Abians in the Diaspora with a view to providing additional channels for meaningful cooperation.
Ngozi Ogbonna Erondu, leader of the delegation, had earlier told the governor that they were in Nigeria for their Diaspora summit, which provides a platform for Nigerians living in different parts of the world to come home and rub minds on issues of development with a view to expanding their capacity to get more involved in development activities back home.
Erondu, who is also a special adviser to Abia State Governor on Diaspora Matters, announced that Abians in the Diaspora would, later this year launch the Abia Diaspora Educational Endowment Fund, which will provide annual scholarships for 60 students drawn from across the state.
She stated that the scholarship would cover every single fee from JS1 to SS3 and thereafter to tertiary institutions, noting that the process for the selection would be competitive and worked out in conjunction with the State Ministry of Education.
Godfrey Ofurum
