During a meeting with Nigerians living in the United States, President Bola Tinubu offered words of encouragement to those who may have experienced setbacks. He urged them to adopt a mindset that would allow them to succeed in all areas of their lives.
The meeting, which was held in New York and organized by the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), took place during the 78th session of the UN General Assembly. As someone who has lived abroad himself, Tinubu empathized with his audience and stressed the importance of seeing Nigeria as a land of opportunity for business ventures.
“Also, wherever you stay, there will always be an opportunity, and in everything you do, there will always be an opportunity if you know how to look and put your mind to it,” he said.
The President expressed satisfaction with the conduct of Nigerians who have continued to excel in their chosen fields in the host country. She acknowledged their good manners and behavior, which have made them famous. The President expressed pride in them and emphasized the importance of determination, commitment, and perseverance in achieving success.
However, the President also urged Nigerians abroad to consider returning home, as Nigeria has made progress and is ready for their contributions. The frustrations of previous leadership should be forgotten, and efforts to improve education, healthcare, and poverty eradication should be praised. Nigeria is a blessed country, and Tinubu commended those working towards its betterment.
He said: “Honestly, we have no reason to be poor, we are just poor in some areas of leadership.
“That’s what I insisted on during my campaign. It was a very horrible campaign, but I won the election, if I had not gone into it with great determination and results, I would not have won.
“There were so many obstacles in my path that would have stopped me. I refused to be stopped, you can do the same as many of you who are participating in the elections.”
He further urged Nigerians to embrace each other, urging that there should be no feelings or discrimination among them.
Mr Tinubu said: “You must embrace each other. Without labels, without identity, we must eliminate the ethnic identity that tends to differentiate us.
“We are one family, we live in the same house but we live in different rooms.”
Earlier, the President of NiDCOM, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, introduced the President to some Nigerians who are excelling in their chosen fields in the United States.
Some who spoke expressed satisfaction with the president’s courageous leadership and pledged to continue supporting him in his efforts to reform Nigeria.
They promised that they would continue to make Nigeria proud in their host country and would also contribute their dues to the development of the home country.
In his remarks, the first Nigerian-American elected to the United States Congress, Oye Owolewa, said 25 percent of commercial orders in the United States were black and 1.7 percent were awarded federal contracts.
Owolewa, who represents Washington DC, said they have been supporting people to take advantage of those opportunities for their economic empowerment.
“Those are the opportunities for investors to be bigger in New York.
“In my office, we talk, we teach our people how to get contracts, we teach our people how to get grants,” he said.
Also speaking was a Nigerian-American, Olufunmilola Obe, an inspector working in the New York Police Department (NYPD), briefing the President on her efforts to make Africa, especially Nigeria, proud of her office.
She told Mr. Tinubu that she was the coordinator of an African Law Enforcement Organization, an association within the New York Police Department, as vice president.
Ms. Obe is the first African to be promoted to the rank of inspector in the history of the NYPD.
NAN reports that the town meeting was attended by Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar; The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola and the Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the UN, Tijjani Muhammad-Bande
the Nigerian ambassador to the United States, Uzoma Emenike; the Consul General of Nigeria in New York, Lot Egopija; and the Consul General in Atlanta, Amina Samaila, were also present.
Others were: Governors Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom; Uba Sani from Kaduna State and AbdulRahman AbdulRasaq from Kwara, among others.