President Adama Barrow has renewed calls for the Gambian diaspora to return home and invest in the country’s development. 

The president was speaking shortly after opening the sixth edition of TAF Gambia annual networking event at the Coral Beach Hotel.

“It has given me hope in the New Gambia. I have said before, Gambians in the Diaspora are at liberty to return home. I have hopes that we will succeed if we are together. We have our strength; it was our togetherness that was why we defeated the dictator without a fight,” the president said. 

He praised TAF’s owner and entrepreneur Mustapha Njie as a “courageous man” who took risk to join the big and competitive housing market in Nigeria and succeeded. 

“I had my doubts about how he could succeed but he has shown courage, confidence and dedication to succeed, despite coming from a small country, The Gambia.”

The president is attempting to woo the Gambian diaspora after a hard fought election campaign where he accused a section of the diaspora of being angry losers hellbent on tarnishing the country’s reputation.

However since his reelection he has used conciliatory tone to call for unity and urged the diaspora to return and contribute to national development. 

Statistics have shown that the Gambian diaspora contribute a staggering 64 per cent to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) through remittances. 

Economists have praised Gambians in the diaspora for ensuring the country’s economy doesn’t go into recession as thousands of families rely on their financial support for food and other basic needs.

Reporting by Adama Makasuba 

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