The most important cause of brain drain in Nigeria is the serious lack of personal safety and security at all times days and nights and everywhere at home or on the streets in the country. The brain drain of academicians is nowhere as high as that of other professionals like doctors, engineers accountants etc. Every profesional will be happy to contribute to the progress of his country but, in the long run, for any reasonable person, living and working in a safe and secure environment far outweighs the pride to contribute especially realizing that in an unsafe and insecure environment, your life is always in danger. IT BEHOOVES THE GOVERNMENT TO KNOW ALL SOURCES OF INSECURITY IN THE COUNTRY!

I am grateful to Nigeria for the Support it gave to me througout my life. I was trained as police Cadet Officer and later as an Airplane pilot. I am aware that I served the Nigerian Govt briefly before coming on Awol to the United States of America where I work presently as a math Professor. But,I cannot love Nigeria enough to turn a blind eye to the problems that pervade the country. First, Our politicians(majority) are now shameless and compete with armed robbers in stealing money, next, our thieves are very violent and better armed than the regular beat police officer. Last, our School system seems to be failing us. I come across some Nigerians who have arrived recently and are below a typical Nigerian's level in Math and science. Lest I forget! A Nigerian guy who was once a Medical Doctor here in Palm Beach County(about the richest county in America) went home for Xmas break. His son told me last week in a party that his father was robbed and killed somewhere in the IBO heart land of Nigeria. A lot of us are here because of our Children . Some of us are supposed to be heads of our clans but cannot come home now. As a result, my clan has no head until I pass away.

The President's observation on the brain drain issue is absolutely true. Having identified the problem, the fundamental question is: what is his administration going to do to address the issue? Just talking about what has gone wrong, is not enough solution.

Just to give the administration a head-start: the most important concern to Nigerian professionals abroad, in deciding whether to come back to Nigeria to contribute to national development, is public safety. What is the Yar'Adua administration going to do to improve public safety -on Nigerian highways (Nigerian roads have unacceptably high rates of accidents, fatalities, injuries and property damage), and on the streets (the rampant armed robbery, everywhere in the country)? Along with these two issues, is the concern over the rash of religious, ethnic, tribal and region of origin motivated violence that many parts of Nigeria have witnessed.

If such fundamental concerns are effectively addressed, a significant percentage of us, would even consider spending our sabbaticals in Nigeria, working in areas of high priority that fit our expertise, free of charge. That is how much some of us care about and love the country.

We look forward to reading in the news media, what the present administration wants to do about these issues.

Ignatius Anyanwu California, USA

The President's observation on the brain drain issue is absolutely true. Having identified the problem, the fundamental question is: what is his administration going to do to address the issue? Just talking about what has gone wrong, is not enough solution.

Just to give the administration a head-start: the most important concern to Nigerian professionals abroad, in deciding whether to come back to Nigeria to contribute to national development, is public safety. What is the Yar'Adua administration going to do to improve public safety -on Nigerian highways (Nigerian roads have unacceptably high rates of accidents, fatalities, injuries and property damage), and on the streets (the rampant armed robbery, everywhere in the country)? Along with these two issues, is the concern over the rash of religious, ethnic, tribal and region of origin motivated violence that many parts of Nigeria have witnessed.

If such fundamental concerns are effectively addressed, a significant percentage of us, would even consider spending our sabbaticals in Nigeria, working in areas of high priority that fit our expertise, free of charge. That is how much some of us care about and love the country.

We look forward to reading in the news media, what the present administration wants to do about these issues.

Ignatius Anyanwu California, USA