Brain Drain

By

Eno Hanson

EHanson@vmobile-nigeria.com

 

 

On Oct the 24th, 2003 the keynote speech at the Pan African Conference on Brain Drain, Elsah, Illinois was titled “How do we reverse the brain drain?” This speech was later reproduced in the Guardian (Nigeria) Newspaper on Nov. 4th 2003. About 2 years after reading this article, this writer has finally found his voice to comment to this rather informative speech.

 

This revealing speech was delivered by a man who many claim to be a genius (but who doesn’t see himself as one); others refer to him as the ‘father of the internet’. While another group prefer to just think of him as a myth. The writer, on the other hand, views him as a source of inspiration to millions of Nigerians in particular and the black race in general.

 

Unconfirmed rumor has it that a couple of years ago when this ‘legend’ wanted to visit Nigeria (his motherland), the United States government asked him to write the names of the entire people he wanted to visit in Nigeria. He wrote 35 names. These 35 people were given green cards by the United States government and have been living there since then. Such is the pedigree of the keynote speaker.

 

As at 1988 the legend, Dr Philip Emeagwali (greatest living scientist of African descent) invented the fasted computer that did 3.1 billion calculations per sec. His invention created the need for an internet and won him the prestigious Gordon Bell Supercomputing Award in 1989, amongst other awards. Born and partially raised in Nigeria, Philip is one of the few great Nigerians we should all seek to emulate.

 

His keynote address was on the influx of Africans into the United States and Europe and the adverse effect of this on the African Continent. Excerpts from his keynote speech are:

 

Ten million Africans now constitute an invisible nation that resides outside Africa. Although invisible, it is a nation as populous as Angola, Malawi, Zambia or Zimbabwe. If it were to be a nation with distinct borders, it would have an income roughly equivalent to Africa's gross domestic product. Because it is only a nation's human capital that can be converted into real wealth, that human capital is much more valuable than its financial capital. (The full speech can be found in http://emeagwali.com/speeches/brain-drain/to-brain-gain/reverse-brain-drain-from-africa-2.pdf )

 

Amongst other thought provoking things, this writer was deeply touched and concerned about 2 things Philip revealed. This write up is simply an analysis of these statements.

 

* Before this analysis is being made, the writer would love to state categorically that he is a novice in terms of Nigeria’s history and state affairs and is making his analysis based on what he presently sees and what he perceives (from his minute perspective) things should be. This analysis is not meant to antagonize anyone but rather to challenge a nation.

 

One: “During colonial rule, Nigeria retained only 50% of the profits from oil derived from its own territory. Four decades after this colonial rule ended, the New York Times (December 22, 2002) wrote that "40 percent of the oil revenue goes to Chevron [and] 60 percent to the [Nigerian] government…." Because of that lack of knowledge, since it gained independence in 1960, Nigeria has relinquished 40% of its oilfields and $200 billion to American and European stockholders.”

 

First of all, the writer believes that Nigerians are about the smartest people in the world, but our values and focus is kind of blur. Presently, over 90% of our revenue is gotten from oil, not because we do not have other sources of revenue, but because we (based on reasons beyond the writers comprehension), have decided to focus on the oil sector. We have exerted all our energy and resources to fully utilize this sector thereby depriving other more lucrative sectors of the funding / attention needed by them to flourish. By our actions we have made the oil sector our ‘god’ and have worshipped it and it alone. We believe (and have passed this belief to our children) that the nation can not progress without this sector of the nation.

 

To verify if our belief is true, the writer would love to compare Nigeria, a country that gained independence in 1960, with Singapore a country that gained independence in 1965 (5 years after)..

 

In 1960, Nigeria, amongst other natural resources, had and still has the entire oil it could ever wish for and more. It is the 7th largest oil exporter in the world and Africa’s largest producer.

In 1965, Singapore (an island) on the other hand, had nothing… Absolutely nothing.

 

In 2004, Nigeria is a Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) with a GNI per capita of $320 (ranking 178th out of 208 countries) and a purchasing power parity (in international dollars) of $900, ranking 193rd (worse than Chad, Mali and Benin republic amongst other African countries). It was also judged the 3rd most corrupt nation in the world by Transparency International (TI).

 

Singapore on the other hand, is a high income nation with a GNI per capita of $ 21,230 (ranking 20th). Not only does Singapore have the world’s number one airline, best airport, the busiest port of trade, but it also has one of the world’s highest per capita real incomes. Although no oil is explored in Singapore, it is home to the fifth-ranked (587,000-bpd refinery owned by Exxon Mobil Corp) and 10th ranked (Shell's 458,000-bpd Bukom refinery) largest refineries in the world.

 

Based on all this, the writer strongly believes (although he may be wrong) that our belief in oil is fallacious. He even believes that if all the oil wells in Nigeria were to dry up tomorrow, Nigeria would be a more prosperous country 10 years from now (if our values system changes), than it will be 10 years down the road, with the same value system and focus.

 

In the past 45 years, Nigeria has made about $500billion from our ‘god’ (40% of this amount or $200billion has gone to our ‘partners’ leaving us with $300billion). $300billion… This writer wonders if this is all our ‘god’ can offer us after 45years of faithful worship. Is this all we are really worth after all the lost lives, energy and effort… $300 billion…

 

The writer would now want to compare our ‘god’ with a ‘minute’ industry that doesn’t even deserve our ‘prosperous’ attention. An industry too small for us to consider, but is presently bringing India out of poverty and placing that country on the international map.

 

THE CALL CENTER INDUSTRY…

 

This writer will spare you the ‘boredom’ of having to go through the history of this industry worldwide, but would give you specifics.

 

Call centre outsourcing began sometime in the late 1990’s, early 2000. By the year 2008 (about 9 years down the line), the call centre industry (alone) in India is projected at $142 billion (about half the money our ‘god’ fetched us in 45 years). Worldwide, the call centre industry is estimated to grow into a $301 billion industry by 2010.

 

This brings me to the second captivating statement made by Dr. Philip:

 

Can the "brain drain" be reversed? My answer is: yes. But in order for it to happen, we must try something different.

 

At this point, I want to inject a new idea into this dialogue. For my idea to work, it requires that we tap the talents and skills of the African Diaspora. It requires that we create one million high-tech jobs in Africa. It requires that we move one million high-tech jobs from the United States to Africa.

 

I know you are wondering: How can we move one million jobs from the United States to Africa?

 

It can be done. In fact, by the year 2015 the U.S. Department of Labor expects to lose an estimated 3.3 million call center jobs to developing nations.

 

When asked in Newsweek’s special issues 2005 edition; “where does India’s biggest competitive threat come from? Nandan Nilekani’s (CEO Infosys – the leader of India’s dramatic rise as a global leader in information services -) response was:

 

“When you look at the factors that make outsourcing destinations attractive, India is still No.1. You need a large, well-educated, English-speaking pool of talent. You need a favorable climate for business, entrepreneurs, good telecoms. India has all that plus 25 years of experience.  The only other place that will come close is China, because it has similar numbers. Other countries like Ireland, Israel, and even Eastern European countries are coming up, but they don’t have the numbers. It’s all about scalability… Infosys alone receives about 1 million job applications in a year. Out of the million, we select 10,000. Very few countries in the world have such a large pool of talent to choose from.”

 

 

 

 

From his (Nandan’s) statement, you would notice that his competitive advantage is:

 

A large, well-educated, English-speaking pool of talents:

 

In most (if not all) foreign countries, most of the people that work in their call centre industry(including managers and supervisors) are not graduates, but are undergraduates working on part time basis. In Nigeria, 100% of call centre staff are at worse HND holders (most of them have their B.sc), meaning we have the most educated call centre industry worldwide.

On the other hand, we all know that in Nigeria, slinging (speaking in American English) is the norm. Someone born and breed in AJ will probably sling more than any Indian (no disrespect to our Indian brothers). We are also aware of how talented Nigerians can be.

 

 

You need a favorable climate for business, entrepreneurs, good telecoms:

 

The business climate in Nigeria and its telecommunications may not be the best in the world, but it is obviously improving.

 

India has all that plus 25 years of experience:

 

This may count as a plus in information systems (when you have to develop softwares and all), but definitely not in the call centre industry were all you have to do is handle business for clients. Apart from that, the rate of software development and deployment in Nigeria, by Nigerians has been on the rise in the past few years.

 

The only other place that will come close is China, because it has similar numbers… Infosys alone receives about 1 million job applications in a year. Out of the million, we select 10,000. Very few countries in the world have such a large pool of talent to choose from.”

 

Agreed, the Nigerian population is about 10% of that of India, but unemployment rate in Nigeria is also very high.

 

So, how can we (as a nation) create a million jobs to reverse the brain drain in Nigeria?

 

Unfortunately, the writer doesn’t have an answer to this question, but what he does know is this:

 

We, as a nation, need to work on our value system

We all need to change our focus (there are more opportunities out there than we can even imagine). The writer analyzed only one minute inconspicuous uninteresting degrading small industry and we all could see the world of opportunities and potentials that this industry has.

 

We have the intellectual and natural resources to change our world, all we need do is to awake from our slumber and take advantage of some (just a little bit) of the numerous opportunities that abound around us.

We should start realizing that no one but us will change Nigeria and make it great.

 

The question now should not be how great can Nigeria be? But how great can I be, cos a nation is great only because its people are great.

 

God’s speed.