Re: Rising brain drain and our collective inertia

Monday Column By Hameed M. Bello, PhD

hamdbelo@yahoo.co.uk

The following feedback was received from readers on the Monday column published on this page on October 31, 2022 with the above headline. We hereby share the comments with our esteemed readers:

From Dr Attah Pine, Makurdi:  Good idea. But these migrant professionals, where were they trained? Foreign or local universities? My thought is that 90% are products of Nigerian universities. If that be the case, what becomes of the often canvassed thesis that our universities are not centers of academic and intellectual excellence but glorified secondary schools. Are majority of these brain migrants employed by the governments of those countries? Not at all; perhaps 95% by private institutions. Why can’t we do same here? The whole of North East, for instance, there is no standard medical center privately owned. The best private hospitals in Abuja are owned by Asians. I challenge Nigerian entrepreneurs to strive towards setting up institutions that meet global standards and let’s see what will happen to brain drain. The problem is that we expect the government to do everything. This government-must-do-everything mentality is a cancerous tuber on our development skin.

The following is a conversation between a respondent and the columnist on the subject of the column: 

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rom Dr Bisi Olawunmi, Ede Osun State:  Hameed, I think we should start changing the narrative of exodus of trained Nigerian manpower from Brain Drain to Brain Gain, especially of medical personnel, by exploiting the advantage of Nigerian medical doctors and nurses practising abroad through encouraging them to donate medical equipment, endow chairs, and offer scholarships to medical students in the country with a view to expanding the enrolment of students in various health disciplines.

Also, in a way, it is a credit to the resourcefulness and competence of the Professors in our Colleges of Medicine  in Nigerian Universities who in spite of the dire state of facilities, are still able to produce world class medical graduates who could pass the professional examinations of the various countries which continue to value their services.

That Nigeria is a leading producer and exporter of high class medical personnel, who are being dependent on by many of the so-called ADVANCED countries, should be a national pride. We should not overemphasize the downside of every of our national situation.

Dr Hameed Bello: Yes Sir. The NMA themselves are raising eyebrow regarding the shortage of medical manpower to service home need. They gave some statistic to underscore the shortage which they say is harmful to public health at home.I t is like producing a commodity and sending it all for export when the local population is starving of demand for the commodity. We must not die to service foreign market. Your observation is noted anyway, Sir.

Dr Bisi Olawunmi: The question to ask is, Why are people leaving in droves ? What is the government doing to stem the exodus ? Nothing substantial, just palliatives and nebulous appeal to patriotism. In fact, many medical doctors find it difficult to get placement for Housemanship and many don’t even get full employment. Governments are not employing. There are many young doctors who do part time stints in many private hospitals, on pittance. Should they be expected to rot away, becoming a source of embarrassment to their parents when opportunities abound elsewhere for their professional fulfillment?  Yet government continues to propagate the empty, phony rhetoric about Brain Drain. Education is a personal investment and those who invested time, energy and financial resources are entitled to reap the benefits of their labour. Let’s cut the can’t about Brain Drain.

Dr Hameed Bello: Thanks a lot for this deep feedback. 

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rom Olu Jacobs, Abuja: Nigeria is losing valuable manpower daily and sadly the govt thinks it is nothing to write home about. But it is like a throwback to the slave trade when we lost able bodied men, now the loss is of mentally agile people who voluntarily abandon motherland for greener pastures. Years from now when we have been left behind we would wonder how we managed to let the best of us to leave and how we expected to make the vital leap needed to catch up with other nations with such brain drain. We shall come to regret this inertia. 

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rom Ben Shemang, Abuja: Well written with statistics. I watched a BBC documentary and many Nigerian doctors in England who left the country and picked up jobs said they spend most of their time “standing”! Little time to sleep or visit friends. They were always on duty and once in hospital, all you do is  to stand and stand and stand. Standing doing your work till closing. And upon reaching home, you are recalled because there is an emergency for you to attend to. And the circle continues! Soooo tiring! Yes there’s the money, but they won’t have the  time to spend it! There is also the health hazard of not resting after work. This experience can be crushing!