Currently, the most pressing ambition of a vibrant, active, and talented young Nigerian is not how to create the next big solution to change the trajectory of the country. Rather, it is how to migrate to the US, the UK, or Canada. That ambition is premised on the notion that the country has – and continues to – fail its young people.
Nigeria tops the chart in the UK for African countries as regards migration. According to the UK government, the number of Sponsored Study grants granted to Nigerian nationals rose to a record high of 20,427 between June 2020 and June 2021 compared to the previous year. It is the highest number of visas granted in a single-year period to Nigerian nationals on this route.
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Nigeria has also been leading the rest of Africa in the number of immigrants to Canada since 2019 and consistently made the top five countries contributing the most immigrants to the country in the world. In 2019 where the Canadian government welcomed 341,000 immigrants, Nigeria accounted for over 12,000 immigrants. While the number of Nigerian immigrants reduced to 3,350 as of August 2020 due to the COVID pandemic restrictions, the country said it is on course to meet its 401,000 target for 2021.
Nigeria’s ongoing economic and insecurity travails as well as a big chasm between the leadership and the people easily lends itself to why the country’s development is far behind most of its peers
Data from the US also show that the number of Nigerians leaving is on the rise. For many young Nigerians seeking to exit, the reasons are not far-fetched. Nigeria’s ongoing economic and insecurity travails as well as a big chasm between the leadership and the people easily lends itself to why the country’s development is far behind most of its peers.
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Nigeria scores low on several developmental indices, including the Human Development Index (HDI) which describes life expectancy, education (years of schooling upon entering the education system), and per capita income indicators. A country scores higher HDI when the lifespan is higher, the education level is higher, and the gross national income (GNI) per capita is higher.
In 2021, life expectancy at birth in Nigeria was about 60.87 years. This figure equaled 59 years for males and 63 years for females. Life expectancy at birth in Nigeria is among the lowest in Africa as well as in the world. This is not a surprise given the poor state of the health care system in Nigeria. Public hospitals have been crippled by low manpower capacity since August due to strike action by resident doctors in August. It is the fourth time in two years the doctors would be on strike.
Following the strike which is still on-going, doctors are fleeing the country to places like Saudi Arabia, UK, Canada, etc.
The educational system has also faced many bouts of paralysis due to constant strike actions by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU)and other Unions. Again, one of the consequences has been the emigration of human resources.
Nigeria does not need to keep making it easy for other countries to tempt our best brains away. Unfortunately, some of these workers, especially medical doctors, emigrating weretrained with the country’s scarce financial resources.
All that is needed is for serious leadership to prioritise the expectations of these young minds and show them that staying on here is a viable option. These expectations are not rocket science – in many cases they are basic.
These workers need a conducive working environment that encourages their creative spirit to thrive. This is mostly why many Nigerian workers always excel when they leave Nigeria. This is also one of the cardinal demands of the striking doctors.
Workers at every level have also earned the right to be paid a living wage as at when due and not when the government thinks it can do so. Cases even abound where state governments owe workers several months in arrears and when they do manage to clear them have the effrontery to go on national television to announce such.
Nigeria’s developmental challenges have reached a critical point where it needs every help it can get from its best talents. Losing more of its best brains to more ambitious countries with better approaches to human development should no longer be an option. The government has to immediately refocus its priorities onimproving the conditions of workers in the country.
