Mrs. Abike Kafayat Oluwatoyin Dabiri-Erewa (Nee Erogbogbo) began her career as a public servant when she was elected and sworn in as a member of the House of Representatives in June 2003. From that time to date, she has brought a clear and powerful vision to the subject of Nigerians abroad and has pursued this vision with a singular passion.
She was re-elected twice; first in 2007, and again in 2011. Altogether, she served at the Green Chamber from June 2003-June 2015. During her first term in office, she served as the Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Publicity. In her second and third terms, she served as the pioneer Chairman of the newly established House Committee on Diaspora Affairs, from 2008 till the end of her sojourn at the National Assembly in June 2015.
It was in this second committee that the lawmaker, who represented Ikorodu Federal Constituency of Lagos State, would leave a far more profound impact. She immersed herself in the job, breaking several new grounds in reaching out to various Nigeria Diaspora communities in Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Oceania. While in the House, she sponsored a bill for the establishment of the Nigerian Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) as an umbrella agency of the Federal Government of Nigeria responsible for coordinating its engagement with citizens across the world.
When a new administration headed by President Muhammadu Buhari was sworn in, Abike Dabiri-Erewa was appointed as a Senior Special Adviser to the President on Foreign Affairs and the Diaspora. This was a fitting progression from the work that she had already started at the federal legislature. In this position, from 2016-2019, she continued to canvass and lobby for the passage of the NIDCOM bill.
The bill was eventually passed and signed into law by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo in July 2017, and Abike was appointed as the pioneer Chairman/Chief Executive of the commission in November 2018. Her appointment was confirmed by the Senate in May 2019 to head NIDCOM under the supervision of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In all these years of her leadership role in Diaspora matters, Abike has risen confidently to become the champion of several Nigerians who face ill-treatment anywhere abroad or who are unlawfully clamped in detention or jail. She has also become the chief cheerleader of the growing list of incredible achievements recorded across the world by hundreds and thousands of sons and daughters of Nigeria.
As she looks forward to her 60th birthday later in 2022, Mrs. Dabiri-Erewa has under her belt numerous accomplishments in her political career of nearly two decades. Before politics, she had distinguished herself as a famous news anchor at Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) for 15 years. The awards and accolades, numbering over 300 (and still counting), from home and abroad, have kept coming to this alumnus of the University of Ife, University of Lagos, and Harvard University.
