Buhari re-appoints Abike-Dabiri as chairman of Nigeria in diaspora commission

The Chairman of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) Abike Dabiri-Erewa has been reappointed for a second term.

Her reappointment was contained in a letter President President Muhammadu Buhari sent to the Senate requesting the Upper Chamber to confirm her.

Dabiri-Erewa who was first appointed the NIDCOM chair in November 2018, has recently caught herself in controversies over the evacuation of stranded Nigerians in war-torn Sudan.

Before President Buhari created NIDCOM, and appointed her as the chairman, she was Senior Special Adviser to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora.

Dabiri-Erewa was also a member of the House of Representatives representing Ikorodu Federal Constituency in Lagos from 2003-2015. While she was at the House of Representatives, Dabiri-Erewa chaired the House Committee on Diaspora Affairs.

According to Channels reports, President Buhari also wrote a separate letter to the Senate seeking the confirmation of appointment of six federal commissioners of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) to fill the existing vacancies in the states.

The nominees are Ayogu Eze, Peter Okpara, Hauwa Aliyu, Rajiya Ayuba, Kolawole Adebola and Ismailia Agaka.

In exercise of its powers, the red chamber has mandated its committee on interior to investigate the circumstances causing the delay in the issuance and renewal of passports by the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS).

The Senate has also asked its committee on interior to probe the contract for the printing of passports by the NIS.

The Senate issued these directives to its committee on Interior at the resumption of plenary on Tuesday following a motion by Senator Uche Ekwunife who said Nigerians are facing hardship and stress in getting their passports.

Recently Abike-Dabiri has been enmeshed in controversies and accusations of ethnic bigotry and nepotism. Last week a foremost Igbo youth group accused her of ordering Nigerians from South East extraction out of the bus conveying Nigerians out of the worn torn Sudan. Although Abike-Dabiri and Nigeria in Diaspora commission have since denied the allegations.

Also few years ago Abike-Dabiri was quoted as saying that the problem of Nigerians are the igbos. She made the statement following the arrest of a Nigerian in America who is an Igbo man in internet scam and fraud.

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