British MPs of Nigerian heritage attend special meeting

July 17, 2015 115 Views 1 Comment

THE FOUR British MPs of Nigerian heritage were welcomed to the Nigerian High Commission in the UK for a special event last week.

Conservative MP Helen Grant joined her Labour colleagues Chuka Umunna, Chi Onwurah and Kate Osamor, the newly-elected MP for Edmonton, met with Dr Dalhatu Tafida on what was an historic occasion.

Osamor told The Voice that the meeting was about making introductions with key individuals at the high commission.

Tafida applauded all four politicians on their accomplishments in successfully maintaining or newly acquiring their parliamentary seat at May’s general election.

Osamor said: “We have to improve the relations back home and here in the UK and start looking at ways we can include Nigeria in the trade with Europe.”

Talking as part of the diaspora, Osamor added: “Members of the diaspora want to benefit from the growth of our economies ‘back home’ but it is also about responsibility and how we use our position to be influential.”

Osamor is the daughter of Nigerian-born left-wing activist Martha Osamor, a key figure in Labour’s now-defunct Black Section.

Streatham MP Umunna is the son of Bennett Osi Umunna, a Nigerian businessman who tragically died in a car crash in 1992, just as he was tipped to become the governor of Anambra state, in southeastern Nigeria.

Onwurah, Newcastle’s first black MP, was born in Nigeria but her family fled to Britain to escape the Biafran War.

Grant, the first and only black female Conservative MP, is a former government minister.