A Nigerian, Alache Ode, who is an aide to the Minister of
National Planning, has been awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE), by Queen Elizabeth. The OBE is an equivalent of Nigeria’s Order of the Federal Republic (OFR).
Minister of State for Information and Communications, Labaran Maku, who spoke to pressmen at the presidential villa after the weekly federal executive council meeting, said Ms. Ode was honoured because of her humanitarian services to the UK communities. “She committed nearly 18 years building the capacity of over 50 organisations to become effective,” he said. “She also developed a programme that attracted three million pounds sterling to send to over 600 skilled UK Diaspora professionals to work in about 18 countries of Africa and Asia.” He also said Ms. Ode developed the capacity for “funding and building framework for an 18 million pounds (DFID) grant to small and Diaspora organisations, and that she has been advocating at over 30 international conferences perspective and approach to development to become mainstream.”
The minister said the federal government is touched by the woman’s passion for service and urged other Nigerians to emulate her spirit. He added that the intriguing thing about Ms. Ode’s work was that it was done for free as inspired by her passion for service for global inclusion of disadvantaged personsl; and that she dedicated it to all the unsung heroes of Nigeria, her native Benue State, the people of the Middle Belt, and to God Almighty...
Speech on The Diaspora Option
The Diaspora option to support job creation
Alache Ode, Chairperson of the Board of the African Foundation for Development (AFFORD) and manager of the Diaspora Volunteering Initative of the Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO), focused her presentation on the Diaspora contribution to rural and business development.
Diaspora is a very contested concept, which is constantly evolving. Aspects of the working definition include de-territoriality, hybridism (link to home and host countries) and emotional, family or financial links to the home country. Belonging to a Diaspora also depends on the self-definition of the migrant.
Two views of Diaspora exist: Some attach rather negative connotations to Diaspora, victimizing them and attributing loss of origin and place to Diaspora. The view which is preferred by Ms. Ode is a more positive one. For her, Diaspora is associated with voluntary, young and spore. Diasporas can be valued as seeds providing new perspectives on our connected world.
AFFORD case studies show the potential of Diaspora-led volunteering activities to transform rural communities through sustainable business development. Programmes included business training and mentoring of small businesses through volunteers, partnerships with universities, local and national governments departments, negotiation of new financial packages with banks for small businesses, support of cooperatives or establishment of business centres. All this resulted in remarkable job creation through micro and medium enterprises and entrepreneurs.
As concluding remarks, Ms. Ode called for “the Diaspora option”, which means to develop concrete, realistic and practical policies that draw upon Diaspora, their knowledge, skills and financial resources to stimulate, harness and consolidate development.
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