Uganda’s Abuja Mission Invites Diaspora To Register And Join Trade Drive

Abuja, Nigeria | NEWS CORRESPONDENT | The Uganda High Commission in Nigeria has called on Ugandans living in the country to register with the mission and help turn growing trade between the two countries into investment at home.

Ambassador Philip Odida, Uganda’s chargé d’affaires in Nigeria, made the appeal on Saturday at a celebration of Uganda’s 64th independence anniversary at the mission’s Chancery Gardens in the capital, Abuja. It was the first community-wide gathering of Ugandans in the city in several years.

“This business forum is not just for us to engage in; it is also for you to participate in,” Odida told the gathering.

He described the event as “a new beginning, a renewed determination by us to reach out and connect with you”, and said the community includes professionals, entrepreneurs, business people, academics, students and skilled workers.

“We pledge to listen to you, to understand your concerns, appreciate your achievements, identify opportunities for collaboration and, where possible, facilitate solutions to the challenges you encounter,” he said.

The mission organised the celebration with the Uganda Diaspora Executive under the theme “Sovereignty in action: our unity, economic empowerment and the power of the diaspora”. Uganda marked its independence anniversary on October 9.

“The High Commission is asking every Ugandan in Nigeria to register so it can build a database of where nationals live and what skills and interests they have, and improve consular services. It will also identify Ugandan-owned businesses, professionals and investors in Nigeria and connect them with partners in Uganda. It will also link Ugandan academics, technocrats and business people with institutions, companies and young people at home,” and official said.

To keep the community engaged, the mission plans regular community meetings, professional networking events, business meetings and cultural activities.

The appeal follows the Nigeria-Uganda Business Forum and Exhibition, which the High Commission helped organise in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, from September 9 to 11 under the theme “Enhancing Business Linkages and Market Access through the AfCFTA Framework”.

The forum drew Nigerian investors interested in importing Ugandan dairy products and livestock and in investing in minerals and agro-processing. Investors targeted the purchase of 2,000 Ankole cows as part of multibillion-shilling trade deals, and about six memorandums of understanding were being finalised ahead of the Nigerian delegations’ arrival.

Trade between the two countries has grown quickly from a low base. Ambassador Charles Sentongo, head of protocol at Uganda’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said it rose from about $4m in 2020 to about $34m in the most recent year. Uganda exports fish, powdered milk and coffee to Nigeria, according to Nigeria’s High Commissioner to Uganda, Misitura Abdulraheem.

Abdulraheem said a Nigerian delegation had since visited Ugandan government agencies to learn the requirements for setting up businesses in sectors including cement manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, tobacco, beef production, fish processing and palm oil. She said the two governments were also working on a bilateral trade framework, with talks at an advanced stage.

“It’s time for Africa to circle our wagons and deal with trade amongst ourselves,” Odida said at the Kampala forum.

The mission’s trade work is part of Uganda’s Economic and Commercial Diplomacy strategy for 2025-26 to 2029-30, launched in the northern city of Gulu in August 2025. Under the strategy, Ugandan missions abroad work to bring in exports, foreign direct investment and tourism.

The strategy supports the government’s Tenfold Growth Strategy, which aims to expand the economy from $50bn to $500bn by 2040 through agro-industrialisation, tourism, mineral development, and science and technology innovation.

Odida said the diaspora was central to that plan and to the Fourth National Development Plan, known as NDP IV, which emphasises value addition and human capital development. He said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Diaspora Policy is meant to draw Ugandans abroad into national development through skills, knowledge, technology and resources.

“Since 2016, consistently, the diaspora has sent back home above $1.5bn. So certainly the diaspora is an important factor in our national development,” he said.

Finance Minister Henry Musasizi said in his 2026-27 budget speech that remittances from Ugandans abroad had risen from $1.9bn to $2.8bn. According to the speech, remittances, exports and investment helped Uganda record a balance of payments surplus of $2.47bn, its highest in 15 years.

Odida credited the Uganda Diaspora Executive with bringing the community together. He asked it to strengthen its structures, widen participation, identify credible business opportunities and profile Ugandan professionals and entrepreneurs.

“We do not need to call you; you need to just step in and come, because we work together. We are building a team, and the team involves all of us,” he said.

Kenya’s High Commissioner to Nigeria, Isaac Parashina, was the chief guest. Odida welcomed him in Kiswahili and said Kenya and Uganda were neighbours in Abuja as well as in East Africa. He said East African missions in Nigeria plan joint outreach to the region’s diaspora.

Odida also introduced the mission’s staff, including Dr Sam Omara and Dr Edith Namutebi, who were recently promoted to the rank of ambassador. Dr Omara, the officer in charge of Economic and Commercial Diplomacy, is due to move to Kigali, Rwanda, as deputy head of mission. He also introduced Col Lucky Ogume, the defence attaché, and Eric William Owor, the minister counsellor in charge of consular affairs, who is the community’s main contact at the mission.

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