VP Professor Yemi Osinbajo

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says voting right will soon be extended to Nigerians in Diaspora.

Osinbajo stated this while declaring open a two-day 2015 Diaspora Day Conference organised by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of Federation in Abuja on Tuesday.

“Our electoral process is evolving and as greater confidence is built in the institutions and processes associated with it, we may then create voting opportunities for our citizens abroad in the not too distant future”, he said.

He, however, added that the President Muhammad Buhari-led administration would continue to ensure that the rights of law-abiding Nigerians in Diaspora were respected at their countries of residence.

The vice president emphasised that Nigerians abroad should, however, live to respect the laws of their various countries of residence.

He said Nigerians living abroad have a critical role to play in rebuilding the country and ensuring its socio-economic development.

Osinbajo reiterated federal government’s poise to tackle corruption as a critical move toward repositioning the country for greatness.

He, however, promised that this would go on until transparency and integrity in governance became second nature.

Mrs Ibukun Odusote, Permanent Secretary (Political Affairs), Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, said Nigerians across the world were recording great feats.

She added that the indelible marks left by some Nigerians in Diaspora could not be overlooked, the reason she said the conference was being organised to celebrate them.

The 2015 Diaspora Day Conference has the theme: “Diaspora and the Nigeria Change Agenda.’’

The conference seeks to provide a platform for Nigerians in the Diaspora to interact with Nigerian experts and home-based professionals on issues capable of ushering in the new Nigerian dream.

About 15 million Nigerians in the Diaspora, covering practically every part of the world, the largest populations of Nigerians can be found in the UK, U.S. and South Africa