NIDO is an organisation of Nigerians living all over the world. Victor Ugoh  is  the Vice Chairman of American chapter. He spoke to NNAMDI  OJIEGO about the organisation and other issues. Excerpts.

NIGERIA in the Diaspora Organisation, NIDO, what is it all about?

NIDO is an organisation of Nigerians living all over the world. We abbreviated it to NIDO America or NIDO-A. it comprises United States, Canada and the whole of South America. NIDO was formed in r 2000 in Atlanta Georgia by former president Olusegun Obasanjo. His  main reason was to give Nigerians in the diaspora an opportunity to participate and contribute to the development of the country just like the Indians and the Chinese did. After he encouraged the formation of NIDO, he gave us an office at the Nigerian embassy in Washington and in all the consulate in the world

NIDO-America is a global organisation which is suppose to be an organisation of Nigerian professionals. However, the world professionalism was simplified not to be restricted only to the people with bachelors, masters or Ph.Ds. However, we redefined professionalism to include people in all works of life. For example, if you are a taxi driver and you are doing your work with honesty, that’s professionalism, and all those we believe that will make an impact in the way we do things and help to reorientate the minds of fellow brothers and sisters.

So, what brought me to Vanguard is that I realized that Vanguard has been doing a great job on issues concerning Nigeria clearlyy and honestly in their write-ups. I came here on an official duty and I feel I should stop by to appreciate  Vanguard for the good job and also inform more about our organisation and what we are doing to improve the lives of Nigerians.

What are you are doing to improve the lives of Nigerians?

We have been able to provide a platform for some of our professionals to come  home to contribute to the national development. For instance, Okonjo-Iweala came from NIDO  to  become a minister here and we are all aware of the impact she made. Barth Nnaji is a NIDO member and you can see what he is doing right now in the energy sector. We also have Dr Ransom and some other Nigerians who have made impacts back home. There are those you don’t hear of  but these are prominent persons. So we have succeeded in sending some of our professionals home and have been dialoguing with the govternment. Every last week of July, we have what we call diaspora week.

Here, we discuss some national development issues. We also provide mission back home. We send some of our doctors and bring some of our foreign friends to come and give medical assistance. So in every sector, we are contributing. |Of course, it’s a well known fact that we remit over N9bn to Nigeria from the diaspora every year. There is also a couple of programmes that we are doing over there.

For instance, this August in Atlanta, we are having a conference on energy. We are going to bring the stakeholders from Nigeria and get some of those in America who have been working in the power sectors to get together and dialogue on how to solve Nigeria’s power problem.

We are hoping to bring the relevant ministers, senators and other government officials involved in the energy sector. We believe that will go a long way in bringing a lasting solution to the problem. We are not happy about the epileptic power supply. It’s not all about us, but about the people we left back home, finding out that some people cannot do their work because of power. It is not on in this generation. The world has gone beyond that. With over 150m people, I think we are in a position to sit down and solve our problems. So I don’t believe that in this jet age we should be having epileptic power supply.

There are also other things we are doing. For instance, we find out that so many have to travel abroad for medical treatment. There are some illnesses that would have been prevented, some things that would have been cured here but people eventually died because they didn’t have the funds to travel out for treatment.

so we in the diaspora, I am talking about the NIDO America, Atlanta chapter. we are planning to set up a diaspora hospital in Nigeria this year. Our purpose is to build hospital just like what we have  abroad. We will equip it, get some of our doctors to come and work in the hospital. Our doctors can also go there put in three weeks or more when they are on vacation. So the ultimate aim is to be able to provide medical treatment we get over there at an affordable rate and make it open to the public. It is not going to be for the elite.

What are the challenges  facing you as an organisation?

Well, like any Nigerian organisation, when it has to do with the government, there is always a struggle. At the inception of NIDO especially NIDO-A, there were all kinds of problems some of them we can say were caused by the government interferences etc.  In the past, there was leadership tussle especially at the board level. Those who were there did not want to leave probably because they did not want to give up the chance of sitting and having handshakes with the president and getting invited to every function the president had. So when they got used to that, they did not want to leave again.

So we had crises because there were people who wanted to come in but there must be vacancy before they could come in. So we have gone beyond that now and we have a very organised board and a very organised NIDO. Also, we should not forget the issue of financial challenges but I can tell you that can’t stop one from performing. When we have laudable projects, there are people who are ready to partner with us. we have the World Trade Organisation, there is USAID. They are all available to work with us when they are convinced that what we are doing will impart on lives of poor people. so we have our challenges.

How is your relationship with Nigeria embassies and consulates like?

Honestly, our ambassadors in different countries of the world are cooperating with us. Actually, our ambassador in the US meet with us every now and then. We had a meeting with him  January 28 this year  where we talked about moving Nigeria forward. The consulates in Atlanta, New York, Canada have been helping.

Every country has a NIDO desk officer. We also have a political team in the embassies. So they give us whatever we ask for. They have been very cooperative. President Jonathan has also been supportive. We have met with him and he renewed his commitment to see us move to greater heights. He has also mandated the ambassadors to assist us in whatever way that we ask for.

How are you coping with the perceived bad image of the country abroad?

Nigeria has what I will call battered image.  However, it’s not just about what Nigerians do because, there are Nigerians who are criminals and there hardworking ones. So, it will be very unfair to classify all Nigerians as criminals. In America where we live, you have  more American criminals than what we have in Nigeria. They don’t talk about them so much.

so it’s a problem of racism, because, you are a black person, any little thing you do is blown out of proportion. There is no country in the world where there is no crime, however, we are not letting that draws us back, that’s why we are paying attention to our own country. When we get developed and get to where we are supposed to be, they will come looking for us.