Ayodele Olalere
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State will on October 21, open the Badagry’s Door of Return to mark this year’s Diaspora Festival tagged ‘4th Lagos Door of Return.’
The governor will be joined by Dr. Julius Marcus Garvey Jr, the son of foremost civil rights leader, Marcus Garvey, who will be visiting Nigeria for the first time for the event which will take place in Badagry from October 19 to 21.
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According to the Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, NIDCOM, Hon. Abike Dabiri- Erewa who disclosed at a press conference on Monday held at Alausa, Lagos, the opening of the Door of Return has spiritual, historical and emotional meaning for the state as Africans especially Nigerians who were taken as slaves over 400 years ago will be welcome back home.
“It is a connection to what we call the joy of return. They are going to take a long walk through that path to the point of no return and we now receive them as kings and queens to where their ancestors were taken away so many years ago,” Dabiri said.
She said the door will be opened permanently signifying that Africans and Nigerians in diaspora are permanently welcome back to the country.
She further said Badagry is one of the renowned world heritage sites and urged the state government to build on its reputation as a tourist centre, adding the governor ‘’will open the door of return to prosperity.’
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Dabiri explained that the Diaspora festival will witness the re-enactment of the experience of captured slaves chained in the neck and legs as they wriggled through the ‘Point of No Return’ to the ship.
“Investors are waiting to build the Diaspora Palace in Badagry. A lot of people have done their DNA and they are saying they are from Nigeria and want to come back home. Badagry is a route to slave trade on African soil and that same Badagry will be the 4th Door or Return to many black men and women in diaspora to experience the motherland first hand.’