The commission raised the alarm in a letter signed by its Chairman/CEO, Dr Abike Dabiri-Erewa, and addressed to Dr Folasade Yemi-Esan, Head of Service of the Federation.

Dabiri-Erewa said the phoney diaspora groups “are set up with very questionable motives and are doing about misrepresenting the Nigerians in the Diaspora Commission and the Diaspora in general.”

She recalled that the Federal Government set up the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission by an Act of the National Assembly “Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (Establishment) Act 2017 to provide for the engagement of Nigerians in Diaspora in policies, projects, and participation in the development of Nigeria.”

According to her, NiDCOM is the lead agency for all Diaspora and related matters in Nigeria and should be consulted to authenticate any group on diaspora and related matters as it has a database of diaspora groups and relates with the Corporate Affairs Commission for their registration.