The Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has responded to claims made by an investor affected by demolitions in the ongoing Lagos-Calabar Coastal road construction, insisting that due process must be followed when seeking redress.
“When we got to hear, we were reading the newspapers about Winhomes, and then we looked for the diaspora investors to meet them,” the NiDCOM boss said on Wednesday’s edition of Channels Television’s breakfast show The Morning Brief.
“After about two months, somebody reached us and we started having a conversation. We sent our team to Lagos along with their representative and a lawyer, and they went to the site, and it was at that point we found out the case was in court.”
The investor, Stella Okengwu, who is the Managing Director of Winhomes Global Services Limited, had accused the Minister of Works, David Umahi, of contempt of court over the Lagos-Calabar Coastal road project.
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She claimed the minister disregarded a court order and breached due process by rerouting the highway into Winhomes’ residential development in the Okun Ajah area of Lagos.
However, Dabiri-Erewa, who is a former member of the House of Representatives, said the Commission had previously advised the investor that legal proceedings would hinder any form of intervention.
“There’s a lady who called me from the U.S., and I told her if the case is in court, there’s nothing we can do,” she said.
The NiDCOM boss also questioned the motives behind the criticism of Umahi, adding that dialogue could have resolved the matter earlier.
“We told them when this started that there was a way to meet with the Minister. We’ve done it in several other cases,” she stated.
While reiterating Umahi’s willingness to meet with affected residents, she said, “If you claim to have invested $250 million, there must be a way to validate that. But again, that’s for the court to decide.”
The NiDCOM chief criticised the approach of using media as a platform to attack government officials, saying such actions can harm Nigeria’s image abroad.
“They go abroad and bring down the country because something happened to them which they’ve already taken to court,” she noted.
According to her, NiDCOM is committed to protecting diaspora investments and ensuring fairness, as emphasized by President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
“We are ready to work with them. The president himself has said that nothing should happen to any investor in Nigeria. He wants to ensure a conducive environment for both local and foreign investors,” she added.
