The World Bank has revealed that Nigerians in the Diaspora remitted $168.33 billion to the country in the past eight years.
The report said the remittance was made even as the foreign investments inflow into the country remained unstable during those years caused by a scarcity of foreign currency which has since led to the free fall of the naira.
According to data from the World Bank and Budget Office of the Federation, Nigeria’s Diaspora remittances have played a huge contribution in cushioning the adverse effects of foreign exchange scarcity and keeping the country’s forex reserve afloat.
In 2022, the World Bank stated that remittances flow to sub-Saharan Africa grew by 5.2 per cent to $53 billion, with Nigeria getting the largest share.
The figures from the global bank revealed that between 2015 and 2022, a total of $168.33 billion was sent home by Nigerians in the Diaspora.
A breakdown of the figures revealed that in 2015, the Diaspora remittance was $21.2 billion; it plummeted to $19.7 billion in 2016; and rose to $22 billion in 2017.
It further stated that in 2018, it was $24.31 billion. It soon fell to $23.81 billion in 2019, and the pandemic caused it to fall to $17.21 billion in 2020. It came back stronger to $19.2 billion in 2021 and by 2022 the World Bank estimated that the inflows into the country had reached $20.9 billion.
Prior to 2020, Nigeria’s remittance inflows had only fallen below $20 billion once, when it fell to $19.7 billion in 2016. According to the World Bank, Diaspora remittance one of the top sources of non-oil foreign exchange for the country in 2022.
It noted that the sustained increase in Diaspora inflows since 2021 has been because of several new policies from the Central Bank of Nigeria.
As of April 19, 2023, data from the CBN showed that Nigeria’s forex reserve was $34.43 billion, an 18.4 per cent increase from the $29.07 billion it was in 2015.
While Diaspora remittances have helped hugely, the Nigerian Diaspora community recently stated that the current global economic hardship may affect its ability to transfer a lot of funds home.