Nigerians in US inaugurate ‘Nigerian-American Business Forum’ for home dev
Nigerian professionals in the US weekend, converged in Florida to inaugurate the Nigerian-American Business Forum (NABF).
The key aim is to drive a way forward that will grow local economy.
Coming with the theme: ‘Investing in Nigeria from the Diaspora: Challenges and Opportunities’, participants focused on ways to apply the professionals’ wealth of experience to the country’s development challenges.
Business Hilights recalls that the World Bank projected the flow of 22 billion dollars into Nigeria through the 2017 Diaspora remittances as a contribution to the country’s growth and development, making it the world’s fifth largest.
Accordingly, the Health and Business Development Work Group, one of the professional committees inaugurated at the NABF at Florida to come up with workable solutions to the health and business challenges in Nigeria.
The forum inaugurated work groups made up of accomplished professionals that would come up with practical solutions to tackle the different sectoral challenges facing the country.
They included Infrastructure and Technology; Health and Business Development; Economic and Finance; and Social Responsibility, among others.
The President, Nigerian-American Business Forum, Mr Kenneth Shobola while delivering his address at the inauguration of the forum in Florida, U.S, stated that the forum aimed to impact the wealth of experience of accomplished Nigerian Diasporas for the rapid development of their homeland.
According to him, “Negative news is what you tend to hear much about Nigeria and these get magnified but they represent just few Nigerians.
“Therefore, we are standing up to begin to step in to correct such negativity and change the narratives.
“Many Nigerian Diasporas have stood out not only about what they do in the Diaspora but they have returned home to impact on Nigeria.
“People of Nigeria’s descent have made landmark contributions to the U.S. and back home,” he said.
He said the primary objective of the forum is to foster a safer investment environment for entrepreneurial business in Nigeria from the Diaspora and the globe.
Shobola regretted the high youth unemployment in the country, saying the Nigerian Diasporas had the opportunity to start changing the status quo at home in Nigeria.
Continuing, he noted that “Start from now, we are rewriting our stories; there are several Nigerians that have stood out as employers of labour here in the U.S and also back home in Nigeria”.
“We are starting to make the difference and engage the lives of the Nigerian youth,” he said, noting that the forum would project the positive investment climate in Nigeria for accomplished professionals in the U.S. to invest.
“While we are on the one hand looking to invest and maximise profits on our hard-earned portfolios.
“It is imperative that those ideals match the insatiable desire for positive economic advancement back home in Nigeria.
Leading speakers at event included former Anambra Governor Peter Obi, President, Council of Nigerian Stock Exchange Abimbola Ogunbanjo, Senators Ben Murray-Bruce, Shaaba Lafiaji, motivational speaker Fela Durotoye, and Amanato-Ihiteowerre, Orlu, Imo State born US based ANTV presenter, Victor Okorochukwu.
