Nigeria and Brain Drain

Nigeria is a country filled with wonderful people and intelligent brains, no doubt about that. It is a wonder therefore to look around us and see rot and decay in various sectors, from education to health to technology; we seem to be saddled with incompetent people who do not have a clue as to what they're supposed to be doing in their so-called area of specialisation. Yet in other countries of the world, Nigerians there are doing excellently well. Why?

Courtesy: google.

The consequences of the brain drain going on in this country will be felt in years to come, what we are experiencing will amount to child's play if nothing is done to stem the tide. I know a lot of my friends who travel abroad for further studies, and who have decided not to come back upon the completion of their studies. The patriot in me wishes they would come back, and I often try to shame or emotionally blackmail them by asking them who would fix the country if we all ran away, but who am I kidding? Try being a good apple in a bag filled with rotten apples, soon you'd start smelling like the rotten apple.

Did you know there was a body like the Nigerian Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC)? Prior to the appointment of Jelani Aliyu, the man globally renowned for designing the Chevrolet Volt, as its Director-General, I didn't know there was such a body in Nigeria. I have read and watched documentaries about Jelani, and I'm super proud and happy for him, yet I can't help but be a tad pensive over his appointment. I mean, our system somehow manages to corrupt the good people and make them 'join us', when 'beating us' fails.

There are so many other Nigerians excelling in various sectors abroad, from health to technology to education, yet they do not want to come home, and do you blame them? Why would a well-experienced medical doctor leave his successful practice in the US or wherever to come here and battle with lack of oxygen in our hospitals or the epileptic power supply and lack of the basic equipments to work with? The wherewithal to work effectively is not even guaranteed, yet we want them to come back? 

Most times, reality trumps patriotism. Will I want to see all these experts back in Nigeria? Yes, of course; but I know that they will only get frustrated and run back to wherever they were coming from. I'm not a fan of Boxing as a sport, but I read somewhere that Joshua Anthony came to Nigeria in 2007 and we refused to help him in his career. Now he's heavyweight champion, we claim him to be a Nigerian and some are calling for him to come home and be made a sports ambassador. Come home for what? We should look inwards and develop other talents, not wait for them to be developed by other countries, then we claim their success.

Kudos to all the Nigerians making us proud abroad, excelling in their various fields; hopefully someday you all will come back to Nigeria, hopefully.