BY AUSTIN OYIBODE
Senator Ned Nwoko, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Reparation and Repatriation, has thrown his weight behind a groundbreaking bill that seeks to grant Nigerian citizenship to Afro-descendants with traceable ancestral ties to the country.
The bill was officially presented to Senator Nwoko earlier this week by a delegation from the African Diasporan Union during a courtesy visit to the National Assembly in Abuja.
Designed to acknowledge and reconnect descendants of the African diaspora to their Nigerian heritage, the legislation is part of a broader initiative to deepen cultural and historical ties between Nigeria and people of African descent globally.
“I assured them of my support while noting the importance of aligning such proposals with our constitutional and legal processes,” Nwoko stated after the meeting.
In his role leading the Senate committee responsible for reparations and repatriation, the senator emphasized that his office is committed to advancing meaningful reforms for the benefit of the global African community.
He described the citizenship bill as a potentially transformative measure in reuniting diasporan Africans with their ancestral homeland.
In addition, Senator Nwoko revealed that he has introduced a separate bill advocating for voting rights for Nigerians in the diaspora. That legislation is currently under consideration in the Senate and, if passed, would allow Nigerian citizens living abroad to participate in national elections.
Together, the two proposals could signal a major shift in Nigeria’s engagement with its global diaspora and descendants of the transatlantic slave trade.
