Centuries into end to Trans-Atlantic slave trade, Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri-Erewa and son of the legendary Marcus Garvey and founder of Marcus Garvey Institute, Julius Garvey, have relished return of African descendants to their homeland, describing the development as a ‘dawn of renewed hope and freedom’.
They spoke at the Diaspora Festival Badagry at the weekend, with the theme: ‘The Fourth Door of Return’ at the historic town in Lagos.
Sanwo-Olu, who was represented by Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Bimbola Salu-Hundeyin, described the event as symbolic, adding: “In technology, creative arts, music, and entertainment, the black man is recognised. We thank God that our past has not put us in the past. We have built nations. We are committed to building a better world.”
On her part, Dabiri-Erewa recalled that the initiative began in 2017, stating: “The Diaspora Festival celebrates the identity, culture, history, heritage and tradition of a given people in a given destination usually in the primordial homeland at a given period. In other words, Diaspora Festival aggregates the tangible and intangible cultural resources as expressed in the history, artefacts, monuments, places of memory, religion, topographical attraction and environmental ambiance of the homeland as an instigator for homeland nostalgia or pull factors for the Diaspora temporal or permanent return.”
Submitting that some of the returnees were coming in for the first time, she added that they wanted to invest in Nigeria and build a Diaspora Palace in Badagry.
Dabiri-Erewa stressed the need for collaboration between the private sector and government.
Garvey, who is now the Ajigo of Badagry, appreciated the home-coming, promising to remain rooted with Badagry.
Other returnees include Mautin of Badagry, David Anderson, Queen Mother Delois Blakely and Correction Officer Emery Nelson.
