THE AFRICAN COURIER. Reporting Africa and its Diaspora! The African Courier is an international magazine published in Germany to report on Africa and the Diaspora African experience. The first issue of the bimonthly magazine appeared on the newsstands on 15 February 1998. The African Courier is a communication forum for European-African political, economic and cultural exchanges, and a voice for Africa in Europe.
The Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation (NIDO) Germany e.V. will hold its annual general meeting (AGM) virtually on 17 June in Berlin.
The event will also feature the election of a new Executive Committee to run the affairs of the group, which is the umbrella body for Nigerians living in Germany, for the next two years.
Originally planned as a hybrid event, unfavourable developments in the organisation led to the shelving of the in-person component of the 2023 AGM.
Only financial members of NIDO Germany and specially invited guests would be able to attend the online event.
Femi Awoniyi, president of NIDO Germany, assures that the organisation was determined to uphold its tradition of peaceful transfer of leadership from one Executive Committee to another on Saturday.
Due to the change in format of the event, activities planned for the 2023 AGM have been pruned down.
“A conference on how the diaspora can contribute to the development of democratic governance in Nigeria will now take place at a later date,” Awoniyi, who is completing his 2-year tenure and is not seeking a second term of office, said. “I expect our successors to hold the event as soon as it’s practicable to do so.”
Awoniyi believes that he’s leaving NIDO Germany in a better shape than he took it over. “With the limited resources available to us, and I mean both funds and expertise, we have done well,” he said.
He talked about a roundtable series on diaspora and development he initiated, partnership with German development cooperation and increased engagement with the Nigerian community as some of the remarkable achievements of his tenure.
“Our successors have a stronger foundation to build upon,” Awoniyi, who is media practitioner and publisher of The African Courier, said. “And I am not leaving the organisation. I will continue to make my contributions from the floor.”
NIDO Germany was registered in Germany as a legal entity on 26 February 2004 and launched at the prestigious Berlin Intercontinental Hotel in Berlin on 14 May 2005 at a ceremony chaired by the then Ambassador of Nigeria to Germany, Prof Tunde Adeniran.
NIDO Germany is one of the 19 chapters of NIDO Europe, which itself is one of the five continental zones of NIDO Worldwide. The other zones are NIDO Africa, NIDO Asia, NIDO Oceania and NIDO Americas.
NIDO, the single representative body recognized by the Federal Government of Nigeria as the umbrella organization for Nigerians in the Diaspora, was initiated by then President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2000 as a quasi-official body for Nigerian professionals working abroad, which is expected to act as a vehicle to mobilise diaspora human, financial and other resources to support national development efforts.
Sola Jolaoso
More information about NIDO Germany at https://nido-germany.de/
