Nigeria increasingly relies on diaspora remittances as millions of skilled citizens emigrate, creating a paradox where families survive on money from abroad while the nation loses its brightest talents to foreign economies.
BUSINESS DAY
On a hot afternoon in Lagos, 55-year-old trader, Mama Tolu, scrolls through her phone, waiting for a credit alert. Within minutes, she beams as an SMS drops in: “N400,000,” (less than £200 received). Her son, a nurse in the United Kingdom, has just sent money home for her upkeep.
Like millions of Nigerians, she depends on diaspora remittances for survival in a country where inflation, unemployment, and crumbling infrastructure have left households gasping for relief.
“I don’t know what I would have done without my son,” she says. “He pays my monthly bills, supports my grandchildren’s school fees, and even helps families and friends in need.”
Mama Tolu’s story mirrors that of many Nigerian families. Official remittances from Nigerians abroad hit $20.93 billion in 2024, more than four times the value of Nigeria’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the same year. According to the World Bank, Nigeria alone received nearly 37 percent of Sub-Saharan Africa’s total inflows, making it one of the continent’s largest recipients.
Remittances are the lifeline. Yet, behind the numbers lies a paradox that threatens Nigeria’s long-term future.
A nation living off its children abroad
For decades, Nigerians have sought greener pastures overseas, a phenomenon that has accelerated in recent years with worsening economic conditions at home. Skilled professionals, from doctors and nurses to engineers, academics, and IT specialists, continue to emigrate in droves.
Families that once invested in education as a means of securing upward mobility in Nigeria now see foreign migration as the ultimate payoff. After struggling to send a child through university here, parents scrape together funds to send them abroad. But once they leave, very few ever return to contribute directly to nation-building.
The result? A vicious cycle where the best brains develop foreign economies while Nigeria survives on the dollars they send back.