Former TV presenter, Hon. Abike Dabiri- Erewa was quite
popular in Nigeria before she joined politics. She was a journalist with the
Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) Lagos and she became famous with her
innovative reportage on the famous; Newsline every Sunday, especially during
the ‘Mary saga’ in 2008.
Today, Abike is a legislator in the Federal House of
Representatives representing Ikorodu Constituency.
Abike has been making waves in the National Assembly as she
expresses her views on critical issue and she has earned respected as a
colourful lawmaker with much ideas on how to make life better for the masses.
What are your views about Nigerians
in Diaspora?
There are Nigerians, especially our
women that are amazing success stories even more than Americans. All we need to
know is where our people are. We don’t have the data of our people in Diaspora.
We are dealing with 16 million. We are supposed to have a database and then
break them down in a way that it will be easy to locate Nigerians easily. So,
let’s have a database, which is what we are trying to do right now. Even Ghana
has it. You must know where your people are, and what they are doing. There is
nowhere Nigerians are not extending, although you have a downside. You have
Nigerians in jail for committing crime, for when 10 Nigerian
What are the challenges you have
with Nigerians in Diaspora?
There are many challenges. The first
one is that we have man Nigerians in trouble in many parts of the world. We
just came back from South Africa, we have more than 409 Nigerians in South
Af-rican prisons and some should not be there. If you commit a crime, you will
be punished for it but when you did nothing, maybe you are just guilty by
association, there is no trial and you are stigmatized. Really, I think Nigeria
should intervene and we are pushing for that. Second, we need to have a
database of Nigerians in Diaspora to know exactly where our people are, what
they are doing. We are talking about local content.
There is nowhere Nigerians are not
excelling. That is just the truth. If you want Nigerian experts in any field in
the world, you can always get them, but we need to encourage a synergy between
Nigeria and the Nigerians in the Diaspora. We plan to establish a Diaspora
commission. Alone, 26 countries have a full-fledged Diaspora minister. Yet, we
have the largest number apart from Brazil that has the largest number of blacks
outside Africa. The next number will be Nigeria. We need to have that
commission so that when people like Miss Florida comes here, the commission
knows she is here and the commission knows you are there, and they can work
with you. It’s going to be a full-fledged commission where you can now tap into
enormous resources. These are the immediate basic things that I think should be
tackled.
As part of your official duties, how
do you feel when you are out there and found Nigerians doing all kinds of jobs?
I think the first thing is, lets
tackle the cause, which is unemployment. We met a Mass communication graduate
in prison in South Africa. When I heard him speak, I know he is well educated.
He was looking for a job and someone invited him to South Africa. When he got
there, there was really nothing there and he finds a way to survive and got
into trouble. The first thing is, lets solve the problem of unemployment in
this country. I know there is greed, I also know there is desperation. Some
people were brought back from Libya, 24 of them. Four of them are graduates of
University of Nigeria Nsukka. Ghadafi was going to kill them.
They went to look for jobs and they
were actually working before they were arrested. So, we need to tackle
unemployment. Government does not create jobs but government creates an
enabling environment for jobs to be created. So, that has to be tackled. We are
paying lip service and we are deceiving ourselves when we say we are creating
jobs because we are not. I think that is the major thing. Again, a lot of
awareness for the younger ones is necessary. Look at what she is doing. You can
say she’s privileged but she could have been in America and gone into something
else. So, we need a lot of awareness for the younger ones to know that it
might not be greener out there because some are there out of ignorance.
Take Cairo for instance, they have
told the boys they are going to play football. They get there and there is no
football to play. Now they are already stuck there. The devil has a
workshop for idle hands and they want to do this and that to make ends meet and
they get into trouble. Basically, there is need for awareness and we keep
saying that if you commit a crime, you will be punished for it. There are some
that are defendable and we are glad that we have been able to prevent
such. We intervened in some and we succeeded. The next thing is to tap
into these talents that are with Nigerians everywhere in the world. We have the
best doctors in the world. In America, we have the best doctors that are
Nigerians, and look at the state of our hospitals in Nigeria. A lot of things
are happening, so we must have a Diaspora Commission. I hope we can, so that we
won’t be left behind in Diaspora matters. There is going to be a regional
summit sometime next year.
So, how do you cope? I mean juggling
your work as a legislator and travelling back and forth the globe.
I think work is work. Whatever you
are told to do, you just do it responsibly and ensure you put in your best. You
are not going to work forever. You have to balance your family with your job,
which is the most important challenge for a woman.
How do you spend your day?
The first thing is to pray. I’m a
Muslim. The first thing I do is to pray in th morning and get to sleep again; I
enjoy sleeping. Then get ready for work. I won’t say I have a typical day.
Everyday is unpredictable, whether as a journalist or as a politician. But I
always place my family first in whatever I do. Whatever I do, I will not
sacrifice my family fo any other thing. I give them the priority. No point
being successful in your career and not being able to raise successful
children. I don’t have a structured day but the first thing is, you wake up an
pry to your God for guidance till the rest of the day. And of course, as a
woman, you must have to take care of yourself, do your spa, your facials,
massage and relax.
Do you miss anything about your
career as a journalist?
Of course, I miss television. Aah; I
miss television, it’s the best job in the world. First thing I do is news. As
am seeing you now, I’m wishing what I could do with you. I do miss it and I
hope I will still do a few things in journalism, just for the fun of it.
What are your plans for 2015?
We take a step at a time. I’m a
member of House of Representatives; I still have a lot of work to do. I have
put in my best.
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