Abstract
Since the Era of Slave Trade, Africa has not been able to attain unto a meaningful and sustainable development. This is not unconnected to the high rate of her human capital flight over the years. In recent times most of the African best brains have migrated to Europe and America for a better working environment and remuneration. If nothing is done to addressed the prevailing brain drain situation, many Nations of Africa may likely be nose-diving from third world to fourth world. There is an urgent need to devise a strategic approach to tackle the issues of Brain Drain, and subsequently engenders sustainable development. This paper provides a practical approach to tackling the issue of brain drain.
INTRODUCTION
“It is not possible to prevent people from migrating to developed countries in search of better prospects in these days of globalization and democratic governance, but a closer examination of the effect of such migration in the recent times merit serious attention”. This was the sentiment expressed by the International Labour Organization in its recent publication titled, “Skilled Labour Migration (the ‘Brain Drain’) in Developing Countries: Analysis of Impact and Policy Issues.”
The term brain drain was invented between 1950s and 1960s by the Royal Society to describe the emigration of European best brain scientists to the United States. This was the era when US Government embarked upon multi-billion dollar defense-related research and created magnetic clusters of scientific excellence. Brain drain has since become an issue of socio-economic importance in Human Development.
The incident of brain drain in Africa today is colossal and it can be well described by the scenario painted in the Bible book- Song of Solomon 1:5,6:
“Dark am I, yet lovely,…….Do not stare at me because I am dark, because I am darkened by the sun. My mother's sons were angry with me and made me take care of the vineyards;
my own vineyard I have neglected. (NIV).
From the above passage, we can conclude that the back skin is not the reason for the lack of development in Africa; rather it is the lazier faire attitude of an average back man towards the development of his God given vineyard – The Land of Africa. Africa is always very eager to work in the vineyards of her brothers in other parts of the world rather than her own. Africa is indeed the architect of her our own predicament, and until she stops blaming others for her predicament her situation may grow worst.
It is only Africa that can develop Africa, and this development is not going to be with the aids from Europe and American. The rate at which Africans migrate to Europe, America, and other part of the world is an indication that Africans place little or no value on their historical past; they seem not to have learnt any lesson from the past.
It is understandable that our forefathers were forced into slavery and afterwards colonized, but we should know that the upcoming generation, and the generation yet unborn would judge us irresponsible should they discover that our generation was never forced into any slavery and was never colonized. The generation-next must not be allowed to see our vineyard overgrown with weeds.
If there is anything that is hindering the socio economic development of our vineyard today: it is brain drain. The unprecedented increase of brain drain from various Africa countries is becoming very alarming and disturbing. In as much as one is not against enhanced knowledge abroad, it is expedient for this enhanced knowledge to serve as a vehicle of socio-economic development rather than becoming inimical to it. Seeking for further training in Europe and America or any other part of the world is not a bad idea, but failing to contribute to African development after such training is what amount to abuse of privilege. It is therefore the responsibility of the present generation to prepare the grounds for the next generation because if our present generation fails, the upcoming generation will never forgive us.
We may not have the power to enslave and colonize the Western world as they did to us, but we have the power to translate our brain training or brain drain into brain gain. This paper therefore addresses the issue of brain drain from Africa, how it can be managed for sustainable development by offering strategic approach to tackling it.
THE IDEA OF SUSTAINABILITY
The idea of sustainability is essential for continued survival of any system. In a system, where an ever-increasing phenomenon is threatening or exerting excessive pressure upon a limited resources or a developmental process, there is need to introduce an intervention capable of managing the threat or the excessive pressure, so as to avoid a crisis situation. Sustainability of that system depends on the quality of intervention. For instance an ever-increasing population growth could exert excessive pressure on the limited land resources as in the case of Britain in 1798 when Reverend Thomas Robert Malthus, a Cambridge trained mathematician was concerned about how the limited land space could sustain the ever increasing population growth and likewise in 1865 when William Stanley Jevons in his book ‘The Coal Question’ observed that their was high demand for coal consumption in England as a result of James Watt breakthrough in the invention of his coal-fired steam engine. This resulted in high demand for coal. Jevons became concerned about how the energy consumption in Britain could be sustained by the limited supplies of coals (Wikipedia Encyclopedia; Pezzey and Toman, 2002).
The notion of sustainability from the above argument is about curtailing the an ever-increasing phenomenon such as brain drain that is militating against developmental process and putting the destiny of the future generation at great risk.
According to Field and Field (2002), “a practice is said to be sustainable if it does not reduce the long-run productivity of the natural resources assets in which the country’s income and development depend” (Pg 416).
The Bundlandt Commission rekindled and made popular the idea of sustainability in the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED 1987: 23) Report titled, “Our Common Future.” This Report defines “sustainable development as a development that meets the need of the present without compromising the ability of the future generation to meet their own needs.” (Lumley, 2002; Pezzey & Toman 2002).
We cannot talk about sustainable development without making reference to how to prevent developmental hazards for the sake of the future generation. There must be an intervention that is capable of managing the ever-increasing variable that could jeopardize the developmental processes.
DEFINITION OF BASIC TERMS
We shall define the following terms in the context of the subject matter of this paper:
Sustainable Development
The term sustainable development in the context of brain drain and development describes how the introduction of an intervention could minimize and at the same time manage the rate of human capital flight in order to maintain a steady and consistent socio-economic developmental process both now and in the future.
Brain Train
The term brain train shall describe the process of further education or skill acquisition abroad.
Brain Gain
The term brain gain shall describe the reward derivable from both brain training and brain drain through contribution to development of the fatherland.
Brain Drain
The term brain drain describes the state of human capital flight: that is an emigration of trained and talented individuals for other nations. To emigrate means to leave ones country and seek permanent residency in another country. Brain drain according to Mutume (2003) is said to occur when a country becomes short of skills, when people with such expertise emigrate.
Brain Pain
The term brain pain shall describe the negative effects caused by brain drain.
Many Africans left the shores of their countries and embarked on the journey of brain train abroad. Some of them came back after training to contribute to the development of their fatherland (brain gain), while others seek permanent residency in their host countries (brain drain). For those who came back to contribute to the development of their fatherland, their brain training was translated into brain gain. Those who seek permanent residency abroad eventually became victims of brain drain.
The pleasure of brain drain is within the period when there is still strength and vitality. As soon as the strength fails and ones relevance to the economy of the host country dwindles, one began to experience the pain of prolonged brain drain. Since no place is like home, one becomes nostalgic and the fear of uncertainty set in and this eventually culminates into a season regrets.
Brain drain should not be treated on the surface. It has become a phenomenon that is currently stampeding development in Africa. It is one of the major factors for the present low socio-economic development. The following are the reports on brain drain:
The Report of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA)
The report of the United Nation Economic Commission for Africa states: “ The emigration of Africa professionals to the West is one of the greatest obstacles to African development.” The Commission’s Deputy Executive Secretary, Dr. Lalla Ben-Barka ones said that, “African governments have a great responsibility to ensure that brain remains in the continent: otherwise, in 25 years’ time, Africa will be empty of brain” Prof. Edward Ofori-Sarspong, the Pro-Vice Chancellor of University of Ghana at Legon warned, “By failing to offer greener pasture for its own intelligentsia, Africa is committing suicide”
The Report of the International Organization for Migration (IOM)
The International Organization for Migration is a United Nations Agency. This agency reported recently that Africa has already lost one third of her human capital to brain drain. Over 3.6 million Africans are spread around the world and more than 300,000 of these Africans are highly qualified professionals with PhDs. Africa is fast losing her skilled personnel at the rate of 20,000 professionals (doctors, university lecturers, engineers and others) annually since 1990.
The IOM Deputy Director General Ndioro Ndiaye notes that a sum of US$4billion is spent annually (an amount representing 35% of the official development aid to the continent) to hire about 100,000 foreign expatriates to fill the gap created by the skill shortage due to brain drain. In Gabon for instance, expatriates are managing 90% of their private firms. Africa is constantly losing many scientists, engineers and technologists to brain drain.
The UN Economic Commission for Africa and International Organization for Migration estimate that 27,000 Africans left the continent of Africa for industrialized nations between 1960 and 1975, this figure rose to 40,000 people between 1795 and 1984. Today, about 20,000 people leave Africa annually.
The Report of the World Bank
A recent World Bank survey in a given year estimates that 70,000 skilled Africans migrated to Europe and America and 100,000 skilled expatriates who earn far higher than those migrated Africans were hired to replace them. In Nigeria petroleum industry 1,000 skilled expatriates were hired to do the job that can be done with the skills of the Africa Diaspora.
The Report of the UNDP Human Development
The 1993 UNDP Human Development Report indicates that more than 21,000 Nigerian medical doctors are practicing in the United States alone.
PHILIP EMEAGWELI ON BRAIN DRAIN
According to Nigerian born Philip Emeagweli, a 1989 Gordon Bel Supercomputing Nobel Prize Winner, who is presently championing the campaign against brain drain, narrated in his keynote address at a Pan Africa Conference titled, “How to reverse the brain drain?; how he himself became a victim of brain drain and thereby single handedly became instrumental to the immigration of 35 members of his closest relatives including his parents ands all his siblings, nieces and nephews. He further reveals that Africans who migrated to the United States contribute 40 times more wealth to the America than to the African economy. He argued further that for every $300 a professional sent home per month, this professional contributes $12,000 to the U.S. economy per month. According to the United Nations, an African professional working in the United States contributes about $150,000 per year to the U.S. economy. This is why brain drain seems to be beneficiary to the professional especially in the short run.
BRAIN DRAIN FROM SOME AFRICA NATIONS
International Organization for Migration (IOM) gave a very shocking report on brain drain situation for some notable African countries as follows:
Ethiopia Brain Drain Report
In Ethiopia for over 10-15 years about 50% of those trained received oversea training refused to come back home to contribute to the development of Ethiopia. This country lost over 74.6% of its human capital from various institutions between 1986 and 1990.
Ghana Brain Drain Report
Ghana lost 60% of its medical doctors in the 1980s and between roughly 50% of the total population of doctors in Ghana was reported to be practicing in the US.
Nigeria Brain Drain Report
The 1993 UNDP Human Development Report indicates that more than 21,000 Nigerian medical doctors were practicing in the United States. In 1988, Nigeria Government set up a Presidential Committee on Brain Drain during Babangida regime, and the report of that Committee was very shocking: Between 1986 and 1990, Nigeria had lost 10,000 academics from tertiary education institutions alone. The total estimates of those who left the public, privates, and industrial organizations are put at 30,000. In the United States, 64% of Nigerians aged 25 and older have at least a bachelor’s degree.
South African Brain Drain Report
Over 100,000 people are believed to have left South Africa over the last three years and 70% of skilled South Africans who are still in the country are contemplating traveling out. Based on a study carried out by the University of South Africa (Unisa) in 1999, 39,000 South Africans left the country to join the 1.6million already living Abroad (BBC African News 24th July 2002 15:22 GMT 16:22 UK). About 60% of the people that left South Africa left on the account of the high crime rate.
Kenya Brain Drain Report
Ironically, African countries are funding the education of their nationals only to see those trained refusing to come back home to contribute to the development of their fatherland. For instance in Kenya 20 doctors are lost every month. It cost US$40,000 to train a doctor and US$10,000-15,000 to educate a university student for 4 years.
Zimbabwe Brain Drain Report
In 1997, more than 1,000 professionals left Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwe National Association of Social Workers estimates that 1,500 of the country’s 3,000 trained social workers left for the United Kingdom over the past 10 years.
Zambia Brain Drain Report
The public sector of Zambia is only able to retain 50 out of the 600 doctors trained in the country’s medical; school from 1978-1999.
The above figure is a proof that that brain drain perpetuates underdevelopment, widens the gap between the rich and the poor and further impoverish the developing nations especially in Africa.
MAJOR BENEFICIARIES OF BRAIN DRAIN
The two major beneficiaries of brain drain are USA and UK. These two countries attract foreign students because of their huge investments on Research and Development R&D.
There are two categories of immigrants in Industrialized countries:
· Unskilled Africans and unemployed African graduates from African Universities who force their ways out to do dirty, dangerous and poorly paid jobs that the nationals of the host country find embarrassing to do.
· African Professionals with highly specialized skilled such as engineers, doctors and nurses
The United States of America
The US puts the shortage of nurses at about 126,000 shortfalls of the present requirement. It is also estimated that she will require 800,000 registered nurses by 2020. This has led to a massive international recruitment drives for nurses in the US. Africa nurses have the opportunity of earning as much as 20 times their salaries if they remain at home. (African Recovery July 2003). Nurses in the US earn as much as $25 per hour, an amount far more than they earn in a month at home.
There is a deliberate policy in the United State to continue to steal brain from developing nations. For instance in January 2001, there was a bill before the Congress designed to give preferential treatment to foreign students with advanced degree in science and technology. Earlier on in 2000, the US Congress announced that it was raising the annual cap on the number of temporary visa granted to highly skilled professionals under H1B Visa Program from 115,000 to 195,000 per year effective until 2003.
United States offers fantastic incentives for scientists because their universities value scientists and are ready to offer them fantastic pay. American universities allow scientists to spend more time on their research and less time on teaching. Brilliant and promising young scientists are giving more opportunities, including the freedom to run their own laboratories unlike in Europe where these young promising scientists will have to work with older professor for about ten years. (TIME Europe; DW-WOLRD.DE DEUTSCHE WELLE)
United Kingdom
In 2000 the British Government cooperating with the Wolfson Foundation, a research charity launched a 20 million pound five year research award scheme aimed at drawing the return of the UK’s leading expatriates scientist and sparking the migration of top young researchers from other nations to the United Kingdom.
Mike Shanahan reported in Science and Development Network (SciDevNEt) News that the United Kingdom is planning to attract more scientists from foreign countries to work in the area of stem cell research and nanotehnology. There is a plan on the way to make UK the most attractive place in the world to do scientific research. UK is already preparing grounds to retain foreign PhD students upon completion of their doctorates at the UK universities.
Canada
In Saskatchewan Canada, more than 50% of the medical doctors are from Africa and most of them are South African trained. Recently there was an appeal by the South African Government to the Canadian Government to stop recruiting its medical professionals (African Recovery, July 2003).
HUMAN CAPITAL INVESTMENT IN AFRICA
Human and Financial Capital Investments
There is no doubt that many Africa countries have benefited from financial capital investment (foreign aids) from various International financial institutions such as International Monetary Fund (IMF), UNDP/UNESCO etc. The challenges associated with these foreign aids are enormous. Apart from the high interest rate and the draconian conditionality attached to them, lack of financial management on the part of some African leaders has being of great concern to well meaning Africans. These foreign aids are not well accounted for in most cases. Some African leaders embark on white elephant projects simply to siphon money meant for national development.
Socio-economic development of any Nation depends on the quality of its human capital. Human capital investment is of great value compared to any financial capital investment. For instance, it is trained teachers that will teach in the schools and not the amount of money pumped to the schools. It is the human capital investment on teacher’ training that will deliver quality teaching in the classroom, not the huge amount of financial votes for school project. It is trained engineers that will construct durable bridges and not the amount of money voted for bridge construction. Highly trained professional will never compromise his standard but poorly trained engineers will compromise with the politicians to share the money meant for development. This is the plight of African highly skilled professionals and the very factor that influence their emigration to foreign countries where professionalism is valued and adequately rewarded. No matter the amount invested on any project, if there are no trained personnel to manage that project, the amount invested is a complete waste.
Today’s leading nations in science and technology are leading simply because of their tremendous investments on human capital and the provision of enabling environment for their professional to function effectively. If you want to build a nation, first invest on human capital and the human capital builds the nation.
The Challenges of Human Capital Investment in Africa
The major challenge confronting human capital investment in Africa is lack of enabling environment in terms of the provision of social infrastructure such as good road, portable water, regular power supplies, quality and affordable telecommunication services, good condition of service, investment on Research and Development (R&D), conducive socio-political atmosphere etc. It is the enabling environment that nurtures and sustains human capital investment. Therefore the provision of enabling environment should be the business of Government. It is the absence of enabling environment that is responsible for the low returns on human capital investment Human capital development requires enabling environment. This is what engender socio-economic development. The question is: What happens when government fails to provide enabling environment? The likely Answer is: brain drain or human capital flight.
Governance should not be left in the hands of the Political groups. We all have a stake in it. To leave governance to the politicians and then emigrate to abroad to seek better life can be is liken to a nursing mother handing over her newly born baby to her househelp to breastfeed. Imagine a man whose house was on fire with all the members of his family in the house, and the fire fighters were not committed enough to handle the fire, only for this man to become frustrated became angry with the fire fighters and abandoned his house and family and headed for his neigbour’s house to seek permanent residency, not minding what become of his household. This is the situation best describes the state of brain drain.
· The man’s annoyance and his seeking permanent residency in his neigbour’s house represent human capital flight.
· Lack of commitment of the firefighters represents the attitude of some of leadership in Africa. .
· The house on fire represents the present state of Africa.
Until every citizen begin to see himself as a stakeholder, development will be far away from us. You don’t have to be in government to contribute to development.
America economy is largely private sector driven. We can do a lot in term of personal contribution to challenge people in government rather than sitting in our house and criticize.
Influence of Globalization
The World has become a global village. Distance is no more a barrier between two ends of the world. The advent of World Wide Web is the mirth behind this collapse of barriers. Unfortunately, Africa seems to be caught up in the web and the more she tries to find her way out the web the more she is entangled in it. Globalization is the driving force behind every knowledge-based economy. Internet and Information and Communication Technology ICT are the power behind Globalization and this is a big challenge in Africa because of the low ICT level. Many professionals who want to take advantage of ICT have migrated to where they can have access to ICT to maximize their potentials. This is responsible for the high rate of brain drain among the professionals in Africa.
BRAIN DRAIN AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Globalization Advantage
Africa nations can take a clue from India experience. India has taken the advantage of globalization to reverse is clock of brain drain. India professionals are returning home to contribute to the development of their nation. According to Saira Kurup report, more and more Indian teachers, scientists, doctors overseas are homeward bound, giving up high-paying jobs abroad and joining R & D units, hospitals, government institutions or even their alma mater. Saira mentioned Chandra Venkataraman as one of such India returnee who after doing her post-doctorate from the US commented “there’s always a connection with one’s country that comes through our parents of the independence generation –a sense of public service. There’s also a feeling that if one works here, one can make a more meaningful contribution.”
In his book “The World is Flat” Thomas L. Friedman said that from 1947 to 1991 the entire infrastructure in India was state owned, but in 1991, their Berlin wall fell and they opened up their economy. As a result of this opening you can stay in India and become one of the Forbes’s richest people in the world. He continued by saying that all the years of India socialism and controls, they could only boost of $1b in foreign currency but when they opened up to globalization they had a leap in their foreign currency to $118b.
Indians when to America for brain train, they came back home with brain gain and India came out of poverty. Indians entrenched themselves in ICT and took advantage of the Y2K fear to ride to economic stardom. India had large population well trained in ICT and when the fear of Y2K came and America needed to review all their computers, Indians had the population to get the work done.
Capacity Building and Africa Diaspora Partnership
Capacity has been defined by Hilderbrand and Grindle (1994) “as the ability of any public or private organization to perform appropriate tasks effectively, efficiently, and sustainably, and Capacity Building is the improvements in such ability either singly or in cooperation with other organizations, to perform appropriate tasks: identifying problems that requires public action, assess options for responding to these problems, formulate policies that constructively address these problems, implement activities required by these policies, and sustain such activities over sufficient time to have an impact on conditions for economic and social development.”
Africa Diaspora Partnership refers to an arrangement that makes African Diaspora to play active role in the African project. Their input in the socio-economic development of their fatherland will be of great assistance in the capacity building process of the African nations. Africa Diaspora in Europe and America can be categorized as follows:
· Africans who became citizen by their host countries by virtue of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade;
· Africa professional who went abroad for further studies with the mind of coming back home;
· African professional who went abroad as a result of some nasty experience back at home and vowed never to come back home.
· Non-professional Africans who went abroad to do odd jobs.
Africa needs Africans to develop Africa, most especially the professionals to contribute to the on-going socio-economic development. Capacity building and Diaspora partnership are vital tools required to turn brain drain into brain gain. The gain of brain drain are enumerated as follows:
International Agencies and Government Collaboration
Agency such as the International Organization for Migration IOM has gained considerable experience in the design and implementation of programmes aiming at tapping the skills of African professionals who are scattered all around the world. In 1983, IOM came up with a programme titled: Return and Reintegrate of Qualified African Nationals (RQAN). Under this programme, over 2000 highly skilled African nationals were assisted to return and reintegrate to 41 African countries. These professional brought back their experience in various field of human endevours. In 2001, IOM launched a similar programme: Migration for Developmetn in Africa (MIDA) in Libreville, Garbon. “MIDA is an institutional capacity building programme that aims to develop the potential synergy between the profiles of African migrants and the demand from countries, by facilitating the transfer of vital skills and resources of the African diasporas to their countries of origin” Through the above efforts, African professionals abroad can bring in new vision to enforce a change. MIDAS target is the African professional, entrepreneurs and experts in the diaspora willing and able to contribute their skills. MIDA has achieved a lot in the areas of strengthening the government capacity building in providing social services such as education and health; improving the partnership and synergies among governments, cooperation agencies in the diaspora; transfer and utilization of skills of Africa in the diaspora; channeling remittances and increasing investment etc.
Africa Diaspora’s Remittance to Africa
It has been observed that Africa Diasporas are one of the major sources of foreign exchange earnings in Africa. The amount of remittance made to Africa is enough to pay African huge foreign debts. Migration for Development in Africa (MIDA) reports that “In 2002 migrant remittance receipts of developing nations stood at US $88billion….the value of remittances flowing through informal channels is three times higher than the official channels.” IMF estimates the Africa Diaspora now constitute the largest foreign investors in Africa, and it is believed that if migrant remittance is efficiently coordinated and managed, it could serve as a means of foreign exchange earning in Africa. Deregulation of international financial markets and the emergence of Information and Communication Technology ICT knowledge based economy have make remittances to developing countries by Africa Diaspora very easy. This is one of the argument in support of brain drain but the truth is financial investment that is devoid of human capital investment cannot solve the problem of Africa.
Virtual Participation
One of the ways by which IOM maintains the link between the African professionals and their home countries is through Information and Communication Technology ICT. MIDA programme is making use of ICT in e-learning to provide distant learning programme to improve educational capacities and collaboration between the professional abroad and their counterparts at home. In South Africa for instance, there is a virtual participation through the South Africa Network of Skills Abroad (SANSA). Through the SANSA websites, South African professional abroad are collaborating with their counterparts at home. It was reported that through this website, 22,000 graduates from five major universities who are now resident abroad are still getting in touch with their universities.
Through virtual participation professional can contribute to the development at home without necessarily relocating to their home countries. Similar networks in Africa are: Association of Kenyans Abroad, the Moroccan Association of Researchers, the Association of Nigerian Abroad, and the Tunisian Scientific Consortium.
Africa can follow the example of how Asia is taking advantage of brain drain to development their continent. For instance the highly skilled Chinese and India in Silicon Valley have set up subsidiaries, joint venture and sub-contracting arrangement in their continent.
Professional Bodies Initiatives
The politicking among Government officials may be of great hindrance to the African Diaspora involvement in development. This is where the professional bodies can come in to play major part. With a close monitoring by appropriate Government agency, professional bodies initiatives can be a better option. The major reasons adduced for the reluctance of some Africa Diaspora from coming home to help in development are:
· The fear of falling victim of dubious people in their countries.
· The unethical and unfriendly reception they receive from some Government officials whenever they come home to offer their assistance.
· The inability and unwillingness of Government to pay for their services.
· The fear of ‘spiritual attack from their native home.
Professional bodies understand themselves and they can easily provide the capacity that can win the confidence of the African Diaspora and rekindle their hope in Africa project.
COMMITMENT MENTALITY
It is high time Africa began to think of what they can contribute to their fatherland and not what they can get from it. Until Africans are possessed with the spirit of contribution and are ready to sacrifice for their fatherland, the brain drain situation will grow worse. It is time to correct this selfish attitude that is sucking us dry.
There is no point investing all our energies to develop Europe and America and leave our continent desolate. Africa has great numbers of professionals abroad who have what it takes to turn around the destiny of Africa. We need to start building into the younger generation the sense of commitment to their fatherland; otherwise war will not end in Africa. By the time the best brains are in limited supply, development is hindered, mediocrity is enthroned, and mismanagement and misrule take the center stage.
Africans Diasporas must be moved by the pathetic socio-economic situation of their fatherland. They should see this situation the way Nehemiah saw the broken wall of Jerusalem and was moved to rebuild it. Like Nehemiah, they should garner all their expertise and financial wherewithal from foreign land to rebuild. It is unfortunate to hear African saying that they cannot come to their fatherland to contribute to its development. Oduba (2003) observed that most of the skilled Africans abroad are not too eager to come back home because of the poor condition of service. They could not see the rationale behind leaving there fat remuneration and come back to Africa.
It is More than Earning A Living
In as much as no one is urging them to leave there better paying jobs and come back home, at the same time it will amount to a mere selfishness to forget the plight of Africa ones people because of little comfort abroad. If Moses had been selfish, he would not have been used of God to deliver Israel from slavery. Hebrews 11:225 speaks concerning Moses:
“By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasure of sin for a season. Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasure in Egypt….”
Every Africa Diaspora needs Moses order of courage to confront the temptation of permanent residency at the expense of Africans development. Destiny cannot be built on Visa Lottery, it is time for Africans to know that whatever is happening in Europe today can happen in Africa only if Africa is ready to give it what it takes.
CONCLUSION
Brain drain is a global issue; Africa must face it now or live to regret it forever. Although, traveling abroad for further studies (brain train) may not be a bad idea but allowing the glamour and splendor of overseas life to lead to brain drain is the ‘Goliath’ that must be forth and won. Traveling abroad should no more be for brain drain, but rather for brain train and this training must not be on the platform of visa lottery.
God is not a gambler; he does not need Visa Lottery to take anyone abroad for further training. If it is God that is opening the door of brain train for anyone for instance, He is doing so for the benefit of his Nation. God took Joseph to Egypt for the benefit of the Nation of Israel. God arranged Pharaoh’s palace for Moses to receive training so as to lead the Nation of Israel from captivity in Egypt. If it is God that is leading us out, there is no need for any visa lottery. He is big enough to open the door. It is time for Africa to stop selling themselves too cheap. We are creatures of value and God is no respecter of persons.
REFERENCES
Barka, B.L.(200) Keynote Address. Regional Conference on Brain Drain and Capacity Building
in Africa. Addis Ababa. Ethiopia 22-24 Febrruary 2000.Since the Era of Slave Trade, Africa has not been able to attain unto a meaningful and sustainable development. This is not unconnected to the high rate of her human capital flight over the years. In recent times most of the African best brains have migrated to Europe and America for a better working environment and remuneration. If nothing is done to addressed the prevailing brain drain situation, many Nations of Africa may likely be nose-diving from third world to fourth world. There is an urgent need to devise a strategic approach to tackle the issues of Brain Drain, and subsequently engenders sustainable development. This paper provides a practical approach to tackling the issue of brain drain.
INTRODUCTION
“It is not possible to prevent people from migrating to developed countries in search of better prospects in these days of globalization and democratic governance, but a closer examination of the effect of such migration in the recent times merit serious attention”. This was the sentiment expressed by the International Labour Organization in its recent publication titled, “Skilled Labour Migration (the ‘Brain Drain’) in Developing Countries: Analysis of Impact and Policy Issues.”
The term brain drain was invented between 1950s and 1960s by the Royal Society to describe the emigration of European best brain scientists to the United States. This was the era when US Government embarked upon multi-billion dollar defense-related research and created magnetic clusters of scientific excellence. Brain drain has since become an issue of socio-economic importance in Human Development.
The incident of brain drain in Africa today is colossal and it can be well described by the scenario painted in the Bible book- Song of Solomon 1:5,6:
“Dark am I, yet lovely,…….Do not stare at me because I am dark, because I am darkened by the sun. My mother's sons were angry with me and made me take care of the vineyards;
my own vineyard I have neglected. (NIV).
From the above passage, we can conclude that the back skin is not the reason for the lack of development in Africa; rather it is the lazier faire attitude of an average back man towards the development of his God given vineyard – The Land of Africa. Africa is always very eager to work in the vineyards of her brothers in other parts of the world rather than her own. Africa is indeed the architect of her our own predicament, and until she stops blaming others for her predicament her situation may grow worst.
It is only Africa that can develop Africa, and this development is not going to be with the aids from Europe and American. The rate at which Africans migrate to Europe, America, and other part of the world is an indication that Africans place little or no value on their historical past; they seem not to have learnt any lesson from the past.
It is understandable that our forefathers were forced into slavery and afterwards colonized, but we should know that the upcoming generation, and the generation yet unborn would judge us irresponsible should they discover that our generation was never forced into any slavery and was never colonized. The generation-next must not be allowed to see our vineyard overgrown with weeds.
If there is anything that is hindering the socio economic development of our vineyard today: it is brain drain. The unprecedented increase of brain drain from various Africa countries is becoming very alarming and disturbing. In as much as one is not against enhanced knowledge abroad, it is expedient for this enhanced knowledge to serve as a vehicle of socio-economic development rather than becoming inimical to it. Seeking for further training in Europe and America or any other part of the world is not a bad idea, but failing to contribute to African development after such training is what amount to abuse of privilege. It is therefore the responsibility of the present generation to prepare the grounds for the next generation because if our present generation fails, the upcoming generation will never forgive us.
We may not have the power to enslave and colonize the Western world as they did to us, but we have the power to translate our brain training or brain drain into brain gain. This paper therefore addresses the issue of brain drain from Africa, how it can be managed for sustainable development by offering strategic approach to tackling it.
THE IDEA OF SUSTAINABILITY
The idea of sustainability is essential for continued survival of any system. In a system, where an ever-increasing phenomenon is threatening or exerting excessive pressure upon a limited resources or a developmental process, there is need to introduce an intervention capable of managing the threat or the excessive pressure, so as to avoid a crisis situation. Sustainability of that system depends on the quality of intervention. For instance an ever-increasing population growth could exert excessive pressure on the limited land resources as in the case of Britain in 1798 when Reverend Thomas Robert Malthus, a Cambridge trained mathematician was concerned about how the limited land space could sustain the ever increasing population growth and likewise in 1865 when William Stanley Jevons in his book ‘The Coal Question’ observed that their was high demand for coal consumption in England as a result of James Watt breakthrough in the invention of his coal-fired steam engine. This resulted in high demand for coal. Jevons became concerned about how the energy consumption in Britain could be sustained by the limited supplies of coals (Wikipedia Encyclopedia; Pezzey and Toman, 2002).
The notion of sustainability from the above argument is about curtailing the an ever-increasing phenomenon such as brain drain that is militating against developmental process and putting the destiny of the future generation at great risk.
According to Field and Field (2002), “a practice is said to be sustainable if it does not reduce the long-run productivity of the natural resources assets in which the country’s income and development depend” (Pg 416).
The Bundlandt Commission rekindled and made popular the idea of sustainability in the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED 1987: 23) Report titled, “Our Common Future.” This Report defines “sustainable development as a development that meets the need of the present without compromising the ability of the future generation to meet their own needs.” (Lumley, 2002; Pezzey & Toman 2002).
We cannot talk about sustainable development without making reference to how to prevent developmental hazards for the sake of the future generation. There must be an intervention that is capable of managing the ever-increasing variable that could jeopardize the developmental processes.
DEFINITION OF BASIC TERMS
We shall define the following terms in the context of the subject matter of this paper:
Sustainable Development
The term sustainable development in the context of brain drain and development describes how the introduction of an intervention could minimize and at the same time manage the rate of human capital flight in order to maintain a steady and consistent socio-economic developmental process both now and in the future.
Brain Train
The term brain train shall describe the process of further education or skill acquisition abroad.
Brain Gain
The term brain gain shall describe the reward derivable from both brain training and brain drain through contribution to development of the fatherland.
Brain Drain
The term brain drain describes the state of human capital flight: that is an emigration of trained and talented individuals for other nations. To emigrate means to leave ones country and seek permanent residency in another country. Brain drain according to Mutume (2003) is said to occur when a country becomes short of skills, when people with such expertise emigrate.
Brain Pain
The term brain pain shall describe the negative effects caused by brain drain.
Many Africans left the shores of their countries and embarked on the journey of brain train abroad. Some of them came back after training to contribute to the development of their fatherland (brain gain), while others seek permanent residency in their host countries (brain drain). For those who came back to contribute to the development of their fatherland, their brain training was translated into brain gain. Those who seek permanent residency abroad eventually became victims of brain drain.
The pleasure of brain drain is within the period when there is still strength and vitality. As soon as the strength fails and ones relevance to the economy of the host country dwindles, one began to experience the pain of prolonged brain drain. Since no place is like home, one becomes nostalgic and the fear of uncertainty set in and this eventually culminates into a season regrets.
Brain drain should not be treated on the surface. It has become a phenomenon that is currently stampeding development in Africa. It is one of the major factors for the present low socio-economic development. The following are the reports on brain drain:
The Report of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA)
The report of the United Nation Economic Commission for Africa states: “ The emigration of Africa professionals to the West is one of the greatest obstacles to African development.” The Commission’s Deputy Executive Secretary, Dr. Lalla Ben-Barka ones said that, “African governments have a great responsibility to ensure that brain remains in the continent: otherwise, in 25 years’ time, Africa will be empty of brain” Prof. Edward Ofori-Sarspong, the Pro-Vice Chancellor of University of Ghana at Legon warned, “By failing to offer greener pasture for its own intelligentsia, Africa is committing suicide”
The Report of the International Organization for Migration (IOM)
The International Organization for Migration is a United Nations Agency. This agency reported recently that Africa has already lost one third of her human capital to brain drain. Over 3.6 million Africans are spread around the world and more than 300,000 of these Africans are highly qualified professionals with PhDs. Africa is fast losing her skilled personnel at the rate of 20,000 professionals (doctors, university lecturers, engineers and others) annually since 1990.
The IOM Deputy Director General Ndioro Ndiaye notes that a sum of US$4billion is spent annually (an amount representing 35% of the official development aid to the continent) to hire about 100,000 foreign expatriates to fill the gap created by the skill shortage due to brain drain. In Gabon for instance, expatriates are managing 90% of their private firms. Africa is constantly losing many scientists, engineers and technologists to brain drain.
The UN Economic Commission for Africa and International Organization for Migration estimate that 27,000 Africans left the continent of Africa for industrialized nations between 1960 and 1975, this figure rose to 40,000 people between 1795 and 1984. Today, about 20,000 people leave Africa annually.
The Report of the World Bank
A recent World Bank survey in a given year estimates that 70,000 skilled Africans migrated to Europe and America and 100,000 skilled expatriates who earn far higher than those migrated Africans were hired to replace them. In Nigeria petroleum industry 1,000 skilled expatriates were hired to do the job that can be done with the skills of the Africa Diaspora.
The Report of the UNDP Human Development
The 1993 UNDP Human Development Report indicates that more than 21,000 Nigerian medical doctors are practicing in the United States alone.
PHILIP EMEAGWELI ON BRAIN DRAIN
According to Nigerian born Philip Emeagweli, a 1989 Gordon Bel Supercomputing Nobel Prize Winner, who is presently championing the campaign against brain drain, narrated in his keynote address at a Pan Africa Conference titled, “How to reverse the brain drain?; how he himself became a victim of brain drain and thereby single handedly became instrumental to the immigration of 35 members of his closest relatives including his parents ands all his siblings, nieces and nephews. He further reveals that Africans who migrated to the United States contribute 40 times more wealth to the America than to the African economy. He argued further that for every $300 a professional sent home per month, this professional contributes $12,000 to the U.S. economy per month. According to the United Nations, an African professional working in the United States contributes about $150,000 per year to the U.S. economy. This is why brain drain seems to be beneficiary to the professional especially in the short run.
BRAIN DRAIN FROM SOME AFRICA NATIONS
International Organization for Migration (IOM) gave a very shocking report on brain drain situation for some notable African countries as follows:
Ethiopia Brain Drain Report
In Ethiopia for over 10-15 years about 50% of those trained received oversea training refused to come back home to contribute to the development of Ethiopia. This country lost over 74.6% of its human capital from various institutions between 1986 and 1990.
Ghana Brain Drain Report
Ghana lost 60% of its medical doctors in the 1980s and between roughly 50% of the total population of doctors in Ghana was reported to be practicing in the US.
Nigeria Brain Drain Report
The 1993 UNDP Human Development Report indicates that more than 21,000 Nigerian medical doctors were practicing in the United States. In 1988, Nigeria Government set up a Presidential Committee on Brain Drain during Babangida regime, and the report of that Committee was very shocking: Between 1986 and 1990, Nigeria had lost 10,000 academics from tertiary education institutions alone. The total estimates of those who left the public, privates, and industrial organizations are put at 30,000. In the United States, 64% of Nigerians aged 25 and older have at least a bachelor’s degree.
South African Brain Drain Report
Over 100,000 people are believed to have left South Africa over the last three years and 70% of skilled South Africans who are still in the country are contemplating traveling out. Based on a study carried out by the University of South Africa (Unisa) in 1999, 39,000 South Africans left the country to join the 1.6million already living Abroad (BBC African News 24th July 2002 15:22 GMT 16:22 UK). About 60% of the people that left South Africa left on the account of the high crime rate.
Kenya Brain Drain Report
Ironically, African countries are funding the education of their nationals only to see those trained refusing to come back home to contribute to the development of their fatherland. For instance in Kenya 20 doctors are lost every month. It cost US$40,000 to train a doctor and US$10,000-15,000 to educate a university student for 4 years.
Zimbabwe Brain Drain Report
In 1997, more than 1,000 professionals left Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwe National Association of Social Workers estimates that 1,500 of the country’s 3,000 trained social workers left for the United Kingdom over the past 10 years.
Zambia Brain Drain Report
The public sector of Zambia is only able to retain 50 out of the 600 doctors trained in the country’s medical; school from 1978-1999.
The above figure is a proof that that brain drain perpetuates underdevelopment, widens the gap between the rich and the poor and further impoverish the developing nations especially in Africa.
MAJOR BENEFICIARIES OF BRAIN DRAIN
The two major beneficiaries of brain drain are USA and UK. These two countries attract foreign students because of their huge investments on Research and Development R&D.
There are two categories of immigrants in Industrialized countries:
· Unskilled Africans and unemployed African graduates from African Universities who force their ways out to do dirty, dangerous and poorly paid jobs that the nationals of the host country find embarrassing to do.
· African Professionals with highly specialized skilled such as engineers, doctors and nurses
The United States of America
The US puts the shortage of nurses at about 126,000 shortfalls of the present requirement. It is also estimated that she will require 800,000 registered nurses by 2020. This has led to a massive international recruitment drives for nurses in the US. Africa nurses have the opportunity of earning as much as 20 times their salaries if they remain at home. (African Recovery July 2003). Nurses in the US earn as much as $25 per hour, an amount far more than they earn in a month at home.
There is a deliberate policy in the United State to continue to steal brain from developing nations. For instance in January 2001, there was a bill before the Congress designed to give preferential treatment to foreign students with advanced degree in science and technology. Earlier on in 2000, the US Congress announced that it was raising the annual cap on the number of temporary visa granted to highly skilled professionals under H1B Visa Program from 115,000 to 195,000 per year effective until 2003.
United States offers fantastic incentives for scientists because their universities value scientists and are ready to offer them fantastic pay. American universities allow scientists to spend more time on their research and less time on teaching. Brilliant and promising young scientists are giving more opportunities, including the freedom to run their own laboratories unlike in Europe where these young promising scientists will have to work with older professor for about ten years. (TIME Europe; DW-WOLRD.DE DEUTSCHE WELLE)
United Kingdom
In 2000 the British Government cooperating with the Wolfson Foundation, a research charity launched a 20 million pound five year research award scheme aimed at drawing the return of the UK’s leading expatriates scientist and sparking the migration of top young researchers from other nations to the United Kingdom.
Mike Shanahan reported in Science and Development Network (SciDevNEt) News that the United Kingdom is planning to attract more scientists from foreign countries to work in the area of stem cell research and nanotehnology. There is a plan on the way to make UK the most attractive place in the world to do scientific research. UK is already preparing grounds to retain foreign PhD students upon completion of their doctorates at the UK universities.
Canada
In Saskatchewan Canada, more than 50% of the medical doctors are from Africa and most of them are South African trained. Recently there was an appeal by the South African Government to the Canadian Government to stop recruiting its medical professionals (African Recovery, July 2003).
HUMAN CAPITAL INVESTMENT IN AFRICA
Human and Financial Capital Investments
There is no doubt that many Africa countries have benefited from financial capital investment (foreign aids) from various International financial institutions such as International Monetary Fund (IMF), UNDP/UNESCO etc. The challenges associated with these foreign aids are enormous. Apart from the high interest rate and the draconian conditionality attached to them, lack of financial management on the part of some African leaders has being of great concern to well meaning Africans. These foreign aids are not well accounted for in most cases. Some African leaders embark on white elephant projects simply to siphon money meant for national development.
Socio-economic development of any Nation depends on the quality of its human capital. Human capital investment is of great value compared to any financial capital investment. For instance, it is trained teachers that will teach in the schools and not the amount of money pumped to the schools. It is the human capital investment on teacher’ training that will deliver quality teaching in the classroom, not the huge amount of financial votes for school project. It is trained engineers that will construct durable bridges and not the amount of money voted for bridge construction. Highly trained professional will never compromise his standard but poorly trained engineers will compromise with the politicians to share the money meant for development. This is the plight of African highly skilled professionals and the very factor that influence their emigration to foreign countries where professionalism is valued and adequately rewarded. No matter the amount invested on any project, if there are no trained personnel to manage that project, the amount invested is a complete waste.
Today’s leading nations in science and technology are leading simply because of their tremendous investments on human capital and the provision of enabling environment for their professional to function effectively. If you want to build a nation, first invest on human capital and the human capital builds the nation.
The Challenges of Human Capital Investment in Africa
The major challenge confronting human capital investment in Africa is lack of enabling environment in terms of the provision of social infrastructure such as good road, portable water, regular power supplies, quality and affordable telecommunication services, good condition of service, investment on Research and Development (R&D), conducive socio-political atmosphere etc. It is the enabling environment that nurtures and sustains human capital investment. Therefore the provision of enabling environment should be the business of Government. It is the absence of enabling environment that is responsible for the low returns on human capital investment Human capital development requires enabling environment. This is what engender socio-economic development. The question is: What happens when government fails to provide enabling environment? The likely Answer is: brain drain or human capital flight.
Governance should not be left in the hands of the Political groups. We all have a stake in it. To leave governance to the politicians and then emigrate to abroad to seek better life can be is liken to a nursing mother handing over her newly born baby to her househelp to breastfeed. Imagine a man whose house was on fire with all the members of his family in the house, and the fire fighters were not committed enough to handle the fire, only for this man to become frustrated became angry with the fire fighters and abandoned his house and family and headed for his neigbour’s house to seek permanent residency, not minding what become of his household. This is the situation best describes the state of brain drain.
· The man’s annoyance and his seeking permanent residency in his neigbour’s house represent human capital flight.
· Lack of commitment of the firefighters represents the attitude of some of leadership in Africa. .
· The house on fire represents the present state of Africa.
Until every citizen begin to see himself as a stakeholder, development will be far away from us. You don’t have to be in government to contribute to development.
America economy is largely private sector driven. We can do a lot in term of personal contribution to challenge people in government rather than sitting in our house and criticize.
Influence of Globalization
The World has become a global village. Distance is no more a barrier between two ends of the world. The advent of World Wide Web is the mirth behind this collapse of barriers. Unfortunately, Africa seems to be caught up in the web and the more she tries to find her way out the web the more she is entangled in it. Globalization is the driving force behind every knowledge-based economy. Internet and Information and Communication Technology ICT are the power behind Globalization and this is a big challenge in Africa because of the low ICT level. Many professionals who want to take advantage of ICT have migrated to where they can have access to ICT to maximize their potentials. This is responsible for the high rate of brain drain among the professionals in Africa.
BRAIN DRAIN AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Globalization Advantage
Africa nations can take a clue from India experience. India has taken the advantage of globalization to reverse is clock of brain drain. India professionals are returning home to contribute to the development of their nation. According to Saira Kurup report, more and more Indian teachers, scientists, doctors overseas are homeward bound, giving up high-paying jobs abroad and joining R & D units, hospitals, government institutions or even their alma mater. Saira mentioned Chandra Venkataraman as one of such India returnee who after doing her post-doctorate from the US commented “there’s always a connection with one’s country that comes through our parents of the independence generation –a sense of public service. There’s also a feeling that if one works here, one can make a more meaningful contribution.”
In his book “The World is Flat” Thomas L. Friedman said that from 1947 to 1991 the entire infrastructure in India was state owned, but in 1991, their Berlin wall fell and they opened up their economy. As a result of this opening you can stay in India and become one of the Forbes’s richest people in the world. He continued by saying that all the years of India socialism and controls, they could only boost of $1b in foreign currency but when they opened up to globalization they had a leap in their foreign currency to $118b.
Indians when to America for brain train, they came back home with brain gain and India came out of poverty. Indians entrenched themselves in ICT and took advantage of the Y2K fear to ride to economic stardom. India had large population well trained in ICT and when the fear of Y2K came and America needed to review all their computers, Indians had the population to get the work done.
Capacity Building and Africa Diaspora Partnership
Capacity has been defined by Hilderbrand and Grindle (1994) “as the ability of any public or private organization to perform appropriate tasks effectively, efficiently, and sustainably, and Capacity Building is the improvements in such ability either singly or in cooperation with other organizations, to perform appropriate tasks: identifying problems that requires public action, assess options for responding to these problems, formulate policies that constructively address these problems, implement activities required by these policies, and sustain such activities over sufficient time to have an impact on conditions for economic and social development.”
Africa Diaspora Partnership refers to an arrangement that makes African Diaspora to play active role in the African project. Their input in the socio-economic development of their fatherland will be of great assistance in the capacity building process of the African nations. Africa Diaspora in Europe and America can be categorized as follows:
· Africans who became citizen by their host countries by virtue of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade;
· Africa professional who went abroad for further studies with the mind of coming back home;
· African professional who went abroad as a result of some nasty experience back at home and vowed never to come back home.
· Non-professional Africans who went abroad to do odd jobs.
Africa needs Africans to develop Africa, most especially the professionals to contribute to the on-going socio-economic development. Capacity building and Diaspora partnership are vital tools required to turn brain drain into brain gain. The gain of brain drain are enumerated as follows:
International Agencies and Government Collaboration
Agency such as the International Organization for Migration IOM has gained considerable experience in the design and implementation of programmes aiming at tapping the skills of African professionals who are scattered all around the world. In 1983, IOM came up with a programme titled: Return and Reintegrate of Qualified African Nationals (RQAN). Under this programme, over 2000 highly skilled African nationals were assisted to return and reintegrate to 41 African countries. These professional brought back their experience in various field of human endevours. In 2001, IOM launched a similar programme: Migration for Developmetn in Africa (MIDA) in Libreville, Garbon. “MIDA is an institutional capacity building programme that aims to develop the potential synergy between the profiles of African migrants and the demand from countries, by facilitating the transfer of vital skills and resources of the African diasporas to their countries of origin” Through the above efforts, African professionals abroad can bring in new vision to enforce a change. MIDAS target is the African professional, entrepreneurs and experts in the diaspora willing and able to contribute their skills. MIDA has achieved a lot in the areas of strengthening the government capacity building in providing social services such as education and health; improving the partnership and synergies among governments, cooperation agencies in the diaspora; transfer and utilization of skills of Africa in the diaspora; channeling remittances and increasing investment etc.
Africa Diaspora’s Remittance to Africa
It has been observed that Africa Diasporas are one of the major sources of foreign exchange earnings in Africa. The amount of remittance made to Africa is enough to pay African huge foreign debts. Migration for Development in Africa (MIDA) reports that “In 2002 migrant remittance receipts of developing nations stood at US $88billion….the value of remittances flowing through informal channels is three times higher than the official channels.” IMF estimates the Africa Diaspora now constitute the largest foreign investors in Africa, and it is believed that if migrant remittance is efficiently coordinated and managed, it could serve as a means of foreign exchange earning in Africa. Deregulation of international financial markets and the emergence of Information and Communication Technology ICT knowledge based economy have make remittances to developing countries by Africa Diaspora very easy. This is one of the argument in support of brain drain but the truth is financial investment that is devoid of human capital investment cannot solve the problem of Africa.
Virtual Participation
One of the ways by which IOM maintains the link between the African professionals and their home countries is through Information and Communication Technology ICT. MIDA programme is making use of ICT in e-learning to provide distant learning programme to improve educational capacities and collaboration between the professional abroad and their counterparts at home. In South Africa for instance, there is a virtual participation through the South Africa Network of Skills Abroad (SANSA). Through the SANSA websites, South African professional abroad are collaborating with their counterparts at home. It was reported that through this website, 22,000 graduates from five major universities who are now resident abroad are still getting in touch with their universities.
Through virtual participation professional can contribute to the development at home without necessarily relocating to their home countries. Similar networks in Africa are: Association of Kenyans Abroad, the Moroccan Association of Researchers, the Association of Nigerian Abroad, and the Tunisian Scientific Consortium.
Africa can follow the example of how Asia is taking advantage of brain drain to development their continent. For instance the highly skilled Chinese and India in Silicon Valley have set up subsidiaries, joint venture and sub-contracting arrangement in their continent.
Professional Bodies Initiatives
The politicking among Government officials may be of great hindrance to the African Diaspora involvement in development. This is where the professional bodies can come in to play major part. With a close monitoring by appropriate Government agency, professional bodies initiatives can be a better option. The major reasons adduced for the reluctance of some Africa Diaspora from coming home to help in development are:
· The fear of falling victim of dubious people in their countries.
· The unethical and unfriendly reception they receive from some Government officials whenever they come home to offer their assistance.
· The inability and unwillingness of Government to pay for their services.
· The fear of ‘spiritual attack from their native home.
Professional bodies understand themselves and they can easily provide the capacity that can win the confidence of the African Diaspora and rekindle their hope in Africa project.
COMMITMENT MENTALITY
It is high time Africa began to think of what they can contribute to their fatherland and not what they can get from it. Until Africans are possessed with the spirit of contribution and are ready to sacrifice for their fatherland, the brain drain situation will grow worse. It is time to correct this selfish attitude that is sucking us dry.
There is no point investing all our energies to develop Europe and America and leave our continent desolate. Africa has great numbers of professionals abroad who have what it takes to turn around the destiny of Africa. We need to start building into the younger generation the sense of commitment to their fatherland; otherwise war will not end in Africa. By the time the best brains are in limited supply, development is hindered, mediocrity is enthroned, and mismanagement and misrule take the center stage.
Africans Diasporas must be moved by the pathetic socio-economic situation of their fatherland. They should see this situation the way Nehemiah saw the broken wall of Jerusalem and was moved to rebuild it. Like Nehemiah, they should garner all their expertise and financial wherewithal from foreign land to rebuild. It is unfortunate to hear African saying that they cannot come to their fatherland to contribute to its development. Oduba (2003) observed that most of the skilled Africans abroad are not too eager to come back home because of the poor condition of service. They could not see the rationale behind leaving there fat remuneration and come back to Africa.
It is More than Earning A Living
In as much as no one is urging them to leave there better paying jobs and come back home, at the same time it will amount to a mere selfishness to forget the plight of Africa ones people because of little comfort abroad. If Moses had been selfish, he would not have been used of God to deliver Israel from slavery. Hebrews 11:225 speaks concerning Moses:
“By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasure of sin for a season. Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasure in Egypt….”
Every Africa Diaspora needs Moses order of courage to confront the temptation of permanent residency at the expense of Africans development. Destiny cannot be built on Visa Lottery, it is time for Africans to know that whatever is happening in Europe today can happen in Africa only if Africa is ready to give it what it takes.
CONCLUSION
Brain drain is a global issue; Africa must face it now or live to regret it forever. Although, traveling abroad for further studies (brain train) may not be a bad idea but allowing the glamour and splendor of overseas life to lead to brain drain is the ‘Goliath’ that must be forth and won. Traveling abroad should no more be for brain drain, but rather for brain train and this training must not be on the platform of visa lottery.
God is not a gambler; he does not need Visa Lottery to take anyone abroad for further training. If it is God that is opening the door of brain train for anyone for instance, He is doing so for the benefit of his Nation. God took Joseph to Egypt for the benefit of the Nation of Israel. God arranged Pharaoh’s palace for Moses to receive training so as to lead the Nation of Israel from captivity in Egypt. If it is God that is leading us out, there is no need for any visa lottery. He is big enough to open the door. It is time for Africa to stop selling themselves too cheap. We are creatures of value and God is no respecter of persons.
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