A developed Nigerian economy would reverse the brain drain to brain gain, as even the diaspora professionals would find their home country attractive enough to return to.
Nigeria needs an indigenous professional virtual platform to link local talent with diaspora professionals... Such developments would encourage multinational giants in technology and manufacturing to open regional operation bases in Nigeria, due to the huge local talent pool available to tap into. With such businesses comes foreign direct investment into the Nigerian economy, which would, in turn, develop the nation.
Since the Stone Age, the human race has been on steady migration, either in response to harsh climatic conditions or in search of food and/or water.
The current trend of brain drain experienced in Nigeria, popularly called the "Japa syndrome", is a wave of emigration of the nation's skilled and youthful demography which, sadly, can't be halted. It is in our nature as humans to seek better living conditions when our current state poses a threat to our existence.
As much as I dislike talking down on my home country or painting a bleak picture of its future, there are truths we need to tell ourselves so that we can make progress. Blackmailing those who choose to 'jump ship' is petty and diversionary. Our salvation as a nation comes from appreciating our problems and taking bold steps towards solving them.
According to a World Bank 2021 report, Expanding Legal Migration Pathways from Nigeria to Europe: From Brain Drain to Brain Gain, "The world is currently at a crossroads. Low- and middle-income countries such as Nigeria are seeing rapid growth in their working-age populations. Yet often, these increasingly educated and skilled young people cannot find meaningful work within their countries of origin, either because their skills are not well aligned to the needs of employers or because there is an absolute lack of roles available. This is creating emigration pressure, with many seeking opportunities elsewhere, leading to fears of brain drain within countries of origin. At the same time, high-income countries such as those in Europe are seeing rapid decreases in their working-age populations. Employers within these countries are facing significant skill shortages, which is reducing productivity and investment."
As it is widely believed, the Nigerian banking sector has taken the greatest hit of the negative effect of mass exodus of experienced bank workers to Europe and North America. With the vacuum created in our banks by the departure of these skilled workers, experts in the sector have attempted establishing a nexus between the departure of experienced workers with the dip in quality of service being experienced by customers of many of our banks.
A lot of factors (majorly man made) work against young professionals practicing and thriving in Nigeria: from irresponsible political leadership, policy inconsistencies, political patronage ("man-know-man"), etc. The list is endless and I don't want to bore you with facts that we all know to be true. Legal migration is a capital intensive venture, as such not every professional seeking an opportunity outside the shores of Nigeria can emigrate successfully. Thus the need to take care of our local talents, towards harnessing that potential we've all been talking about.
All these can be achieved by the intervention of the private sector in collaboration with a reasonable and thinking political leadership. As without a thinking political leadership creating a conducive policy and social security atmosphere, the trend would only get worse in the months and years ahead.
Although remittances from the diaspora community is vital to the Nigerian economy, yet that alone is not enough to drive the nation to its desired destination. Having funds at the disposal of our political leadership is not enough to grow the nation, as it is evident in the current mismanagement of the nation's economy, despite the procurement of huge foreign loans without commensurate benefits to the economy. Nigeria can take advantage of the mass exodus of our skilled citizens by being creative in finding ways of making the trend to be beneficial to the nation.
There needs to be a bridge to connect the nation's local talent with the pool of diaspora professionals. This would go a long way in enriching the reservoir of local talents with global best practices indoctrinated in the diaspora professionals by the environment in which they practice.
Social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, by their set-up, are meant largely for social interaction. Nigeria needs an indigenous professional virtual platform to link local talent with diaspora professionals. Such a platform could be set-up to, for instance, pair a software engineer in Ikeja, Lagos with his global counterpart and fellow compatriot in the Silicon Valley, California. Such connections across various professional fields will definitely speed up the rate of our human capital development, which, in turn, would transform our economy into a knowledge based one. Such developments would encourage multinational giants in technology and manufacturing to open regional operation bases in Nigeria, due to the huge local talent pool available to tap into. With such businesses comes foreign direct investment into the Nigerian economy, which would, in turn, develop the nation.
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A developed Nigerian economy would reverse the brain drain to brain gain, as even the diaspora professionals would find their home country attractive enough to return to.
All these can be achieved by the intervention of the private sector in collaboration with a reasonable and thinking political leadership. As without a thinking political leadership creating a conducive policy and social security atmosphere, the trend would only get worse in the months and years ahead.
Yohanna Bwala, an Environmental Geologist, writes from Calgary, Alberta.
