We often talk about the Nigerian diaspora cash remittance, which obviously has a huge impact on the Nigerian economy. What we don’t talk about enough is diaspora voting, which would change the course of governance and help to determine those who manage the country’s economy.

According to the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and The Diaspora, Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa, there are about 15 million Nigerians in the diaspora [estimated]. Total vote cast in Nigeria’s last presidential election in 2019 was circa 27 million.

For a diaspora that remitted $23.6 billion in 2018, representing 6.1% of Nigeria’s GDP and 14% increase from 2017, approx 83% of the federal govt 2018 budget in value. Circa $25.5 billion in 2019, a projected value of $29.8 billion in 2021 and $34.8 billion in 2023, that is huge.

This places Nigeria as the highest remittance in-flow country in Africa and the fifth-highest globally behind India, China, Philippines and Mexico in that order. There’s a case to be made for diaspora e-voting in elections to determine who manages the economy.

If there are 15 million Nigerians in the diaspora as estimated, that equals the total vote accrued to the winning presidential candidate in the 2019 elections, and more than the runner-up. The diaspora vote can indeed move the needle in governance, devoid of undue influence.