How do we turn the brain drain in Africa into brain gain?
Nov 03, 2003
SIR— For 10 million African-born emigrants, the word “home†is synonymous with the United States, Britain or other country outside of Africa. Personally, I have lived continuously in the US for the past 30 years. My last visit to Africa was 17 years ago.
SIR— For 10 million African-born emigrants, the word “home†is synonymous with the United States, Britain or other country outside of Africa. Personally, I have lived continuously in the US for the past 30 years. My last visit to Africa was 17 years ago.
On the day I left Nigeria, I felt sad because I was leaving my family behind. I believed I would return eight years later, probably marry an Igbo girl, and then spend the rest of my life in Nigeria. But 25 years ago, I fell in love with an American girl, married her three years later, and became eligible to sponsor a Green Card visa for my 35 closest relatives, including my parents and all my siblings, nieces and nephews.
The story of how I brought 35 people to the US exemplifies how 10 million skilled people have emigrated out of Africa during the past 30 years.
We came to the US on student visas and then changed our status to become permanent residents and then naturalised citizens. Our new citizenship status helped us sponsor relatives, and also inspired our friends to immigrate here.
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.
Although the African Union does not recognise the African Diaspora as a nation, the IMF acknowledges its economic importance. The IMF estimates the African Diaspora now constitutes the biggest group of foreign investors in Africa.
Take, for example, Western Union.
It estimates that it is not untypical for an immigrant to wire $300 per month to relatives in Africa. If you assume that most Africans living outside Africa send money each month and you do the maths, you will agree with the IMF that the African Diaspora is indeed the largest foreign investor in Africa.
What few realise is that Africans who immigrate to the US contribute 40 times more wealth to the American than to the African economy. According to the UN, an African professional working in the US contributes about $150,000 per year to the US economy.
Again, if you do the maths, you find that the African professional remitting $300 per month to Africa is contributing 40 times more to the US economy than to the African one. That means for every $300 per month a professional African sends home, that person contributes $12,000 per month to the US economy.
Of course, the issue more important than facts and figures is eliminating poverty in Africa, not merely reducing it by sending money to relatives. Money alone cannot eliminate poverty in Africa, because even $1m is a number with no intrinsic value. Real wealth cannot be measured by money, yet we often confuse money with wealth. Under the status quo, Africa would still remain poor even if we were to send all the money in the world there. Ask someone who is ill what “wealth†means, and you will get a very different answer than from most other people. If you were HIV-positive, you would gladly exchange one million dollars to become HIV-negative. When you give your money to your doctor, that physician helps you convert your money into health — or rather, wealth.
Money cannot teach your children. Teachers can. Money cannot bring electricity to your home. Engineers can. Money cannot cure sick people. Doctors can. It is only a nation’s human capital that can create real wealth, human capital is more valuable than its financial capital. A few years ago, Zambia had 1,600 medical doctors. Today, it has only 400. Kenya retains only 10% of the nurses and doctors trained there. A similar story is told from South Africa to Ghana.
The brain drain explains, in part, why affluent Africans fly to London for their medical treatments. Furthermore, because a significant percentage of African doctors and nurses practice in the US, we can conclude that African medical schools are de facto serving the American people, not Africa. In a given year, the World Bank estimates that 70,000 skilled Africans immigrate to Europe and the United States. While the 70,000 skilled Africans are fleeing the continent, 100,000 skilled expatriates who are paid wages higher than the prevailing rate in Europe are hired to replace them. Can the brain drain be reversed? Yes.
It requires that we create one million high-tech jobs in Africa. Take the same number from the US to Africa. How can we move one million jobs from the US to Africa? We can.
Emeagwali
USA
On the day I left Nigeria, I felt sad because I was leaving my family behind. I believed I would return eight years later, probably marry an Igbo girl, and then spend the rest of my life in Nigeria. But 25 years ago, I fell in love with an American girl, married her three years later, and became eligible to sponsor a Green Card visa for my 35 closest relatives, including my parents and all my siblings, nieces and nephews.
The story of how I brought 35 people to the US exemplifies how 10 million skilled people have emigrated out of Africa during the past 30 years.
We came to the US on student visas and then changed our status to become permanent residents and then naturalised citizens. Our new citizenship status helped us sponsor relatives, and also inspired our friends to immigrate here.
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.
Although the African Union does not recognise the African Diaspora as a nation, the IMF acknowledges its economic importance. The IMF estimates the African Diaspora now constitutes the biggest group of foreign investors in Africa.
Take, for example, Western Union.
It estimates that it is not untypical for an immigrant to wire $300 per month to relatives in Africa. If you assume that most Africans living outside Africa send money each month and you do the maths, you will agree with the IMF that the African Diaspora is indeed the largest foreign investor in Africa.
What few realise is that Africans who immigrate to the US contribute 40 times more wealth to the American than to the African economy. According to the UN, an African professional working in the US contributes about $150,000 per year to the US economy.
Again, if you do the maths, you find that the African professional remitting $300 per month to Africa is contributing 40 times more to the US economy than to the African one. That means for every $300 per month a professional African sends home, that person contributes $12,000 per month to the US economy.
Of course, the issue more important than facts and figures is eliminating poverty in Africa, not merely reducing it by sending money to relatives. Money alone cannot eliminate poverty in Africa, because even $1m is a number with no intrinsic value. Real wealth cannot be measured by money, yet we often confuse money with wealth. Under the status quo, Africa would still remain poor even if we were to send all the money in the world there. Ask someone who is ill what “wealth†means, and you will get a very different answer than from most other people. If you were HIV-positive, you would gladly exchange one million dollars to become HIV-negative. When you give your money to your doctor, that physician helps you convert your money into health — or rather, wealth.
Money cannot teach your children. Teachers can. Money cannot bring electricity to your home. Engineers can. Money cannot cure sick people. Doctors can. It is only a nation’s human capital that can create real wealth, human capital is more valuable than its financial capital. A few years ago, Zambia had 1,600 medical doctors. Today, it has only 400. Kenya retains only 10% of the nurses and doctors trained there. A similar story is told from South Africa to Ghana.
The brain drain explains, in part, why affluent Africans fly to London for their medical treatments. Furthermore, because a significant percentage of African doctors and nurses practice in the US, we can conclude that African medical schools are de facto serving the American people, not Africa. In a given year, the World Bank estimates that 70,000 skilled Africans immigrate to Europe and the United States. While the 70,000 skilled Africans are fleeing the continent, 100,000 skilled expatriates who are paid wages higher than the prevailing rate in Europe are hired to replace them. Can the brain drain be reversed? Yes.
It requires that we create one million high-tech jobs in Africa. Take the same number from the US to Africa. How can we move one million jobs from the US to Africa? We can.
Emeagwali
USA