Skilled Africans Filling Key Posts Abroad, Draining Home Countries of Vital Expertise

"There are more Ethiopian doctors in the United States than there are in Ethiopia," Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told a forum on Africa's brain drain meeting in Addis Ababa last week. Africa has the "most mobile population in the world," according to Ndioro Ndiaye, deputy director general of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), whose presentation provided the statistical basis for the two days of deliberations.

Hilde Johnson, Norway's minister of international development, said she learned on a just-completed visit to Malawi that more Malawians practice medicine in Manchester, England than in Malawi, where most received at least some of the training they now use in their profession. Of every four nurses who complete their education in Malawi, she said, one migrates, one takes a better paying job in another sector, one dies of Aids and one remains active in nursing.

The IOM calculates that poor nations are spending U.S.$500 million a year training medical workers who migrate to richer nations. The cost to the industrialized world of training the estimated three million health professionals who were educated in poor countries but are now working in Europe, North America and South Asia, according to IOM, would have been a "staggering" U.S.$552 billion, at an average of U.S.$184,999 for each of those professionals.

The Global Coalition for Africa, an independent non-governmental organization based at the World Bank that organizes annual fora on a variety of pressing issues, brought some 75 participants to Ethiopia for the event. Attendees included four former heads of state or government, ministers and members of Parliament from a number of African countries, experts in migration and related topics, along with representatives of international agencies and NGOs from Africa, Europe and North America. The largely informal deliberations were moderated by three of the GCA's seven co-chairs, including Meles, Johnson and Frene Ginwala, former speaker of the South African Parliament.

The migration of skilled professionals from Africa has a two-fold negative impact, Meles said. "We lose the expertise that we need to spur and manage development, and we also lose the return of the investment we have made in education and training," he said.

According to Nenandi Usman, Nigeria's minister of state for finance, there are at least 25,000 doctors in the United States and United Kingdom whose education was financed by her government. The IOM estimates that 23,000 African health professional leave home every year, "leaving their own stretched health service in dire straights." On the other side, Valeria Goodling, chief executive of the British health care company BUPA, told Time magazine recently that the British and U.S. medical system would collapse without immigrant nurses from places like Nigeria and India.

Industrialized nations that recruit professionals from Africa should invest in training, Meles said, by financing the education of two skilled Africans for every one that their economies need.

Participants agreed that migration is not only the result of the 'pull' labor demand from the West. There is also a 'push' effect from Africa. "The pressure to migrate will continue to build unless and until greater opportunities - particularly for young people - are available in all African countries," Ginawala said in her statement opening the meeting. "We train people for a globalized economy but have not created conditions where their skills can be fully utilized at home, " said Babacar Ndiaye, former president of the African Development Bank.

The International Labour Organisation estimates there are some 7.1 million Africans living outside their home country. The number is rising rapidly and by 2025 could climb to one in ten, the IOM says.

An increasing portion of these migrants is women, Mrs. Ndiaye from the IOM told the forum. Nearly half of African migrants are female, she said, a result of increased access to education and higher participation in the labor force by women in recent years. While migration "can release women from traditional roles and enable them to exercise their rights more effectively in the family," she said, women are also more likely to fall victim to human rights abuses, "since they work in gender-segregated and unregulated sectors of the economy, such as domestic work, entertainment and the sex industry." In financial terms, the most significant positive effect is from the remittances migrant workers send to their relatives and friends at home. According to estimates Ndiaye cited, recorded transfers to Africa totaled about U.S.$12 billion in 2002, of which U.S.$4 billion went to sub-Saharan Africa. "If unofficial transfers were also counted, the volume could double this amount," she said.

In considering proposals for tackling the problems and maximizing the benefits of migration, participants suggested "a wholistic and comprehensive approach, integrating migration into development strategies and formulating inclusive migration policies." A number of participants stressed the importance of supporting implementation of the "strategic framework for a policy on migration" that has been drafted by the African Union for deliberation by member states.

"We have to deal with the factors that encourage or force people to go out," said Miria Matembe, a member of Parliament and former minister of ethics and integrity in Uganda, "and there is an urgent need for research to establish the impact of feminization on migration."

Another recommendation that received wide support was the emphasis on improved governance, sound economic policies, and resolution of conflicts so that more skilled workers would decide to return home or remain home when they complete their education.

Participants also weighed ways to build links between Africans living abroad and their home countries and between the Diaspora made up of salve descendents and the continent as a whole. Mel Foote from the Constituency for Africa in Washington, DC, emphasized the spending power and political clout of African Americans who he said must be included in any effective strategy for dealing with brain drain and development.

The importance of technology was also raised during the discussions, not only as a key to the creation of attractive jobs but also as a way to engage more actively with the diaspora and to leapfrog development obstacles.

"The challenge we face is to minimize the negative effects and enhance its positive impact," Meles said. This requires a willingness to "think outside the box" and a determination to shape migration policies both in Africa and internationally that support African development.

I love home, but there is a reason intellectual flight occurs. Anyways, i have been carrying out several investments back home, and i will definitely move back some time (there are parts that are veritable nirvanas. The only problem is that not everyone has access to them). But, going back to my initial point, there is a reason for intellectual flight. Think of it this way (and i am talking about Kenya). The main education system is the KCPE/KCSE system (which can be extremely challenging). In my opinion the reason it is so difficult is so that most people fail. The reason for this is there is a derth of public and private universities, and thus there has to be a way to enfore some sort of 'ad hoc quota' (although i do not think there is anything ad hoc about it). Now, of those few (and i mean less than 10%) who get into the universities, and graduate, they have to face the job market. Kenya has an insanely competitive job market, due to the dual facets of unavailability and qualified competitants. Hence unemployment and underemployment is rampant.

Now, let's say someone sees a job offer in Brussels that pays what that person considers a king's ransom and has qualifications that the person exceeded while he was still in campus! What is the person to do? It is easy to say that he should be a patriot and stay home, but stay home and do what? There are strong push and pull factors when it comes to intellectual flight, and while some may find it easy to pooh-pooh them it is a different scenario when someone is in the actual situation.

What about starting companies (as in individuals starting their own firms). That is both easy and difficult. Many have started small-scale set-ups, such as Jua Kali, but this are normally very small set-ups that deal with basic stuff. For example metal work and the like. Starting a higher-level organization is quite difficult. For example i have a cousin who is a genius (i have an IQ that according to Mensa puts me at genius level, but i call that 'paper genius.' This dude is INSANE. He was building digital electronics while he was a freakin' kid. He is a genius, i merely just have a subjective piece of paper saying i am, the same piece of paper that said Sharon Stone is also gifted LOL. This dude is just plain amazing. When he was 16 he had opened an underground video arcade where he had installed arcade machines - the shells were made of wood - with tv monitors and games). This guy also started a small set-up where he goes to local clubs and installs his own home-made version of an I-pod player to act as a form of neo-juke box (he made it from scratch, including the software architecture). He also makes computers, and he takes care of both the hardware (which anyone can do) and software (which is a different level of complexity). IF he was in the US he would be immensely rich! Back home he has a (relatively) good living, and his family is well to do, but it is nowhere what he would have in the US.

Again, there is a reason people move.

Anyways, interesting article. But again, and in conclusion, there are strong reasons why intelectual flight occurs.

FRIEND,

BEST COMPLIMENT OF THE DAY.

I AM BARRISTER LOUIS MBANEFO , A SOLICITOR AT LAW, I AM WRITING IN
RESPECT
OF MR.LARRY COLLIER,A FORIGNER WHO PERISHED WITH HIS WHOLE FAMILY OF
WIFE
AND 2 KIDS ALONG WITH 148 OTHERS WHICH INCLUDES THE THEN NIGERIAN
SPORTS
MINISTER LATE ISHAYA MARK AKU, IN AN EAS AIR-LINE PLANE CRASH IN KANO
NORTHERN NIGERIA ON MAY 4TH 2002. I AMTHE PERSONAL ATTORNEY,INCHARGE OF
THE
DECEASED MONEY AND ESTATE. HOWEVER, I GOT YOUR CONTACT THROUGH MY
INTERNET
SEARCH.

THERE WAS AN ACCOUNT OPENED WITH UNITED BANK OF AFRICA PLC , IN 2001 BY
THIS
GREAT LATE INDUSTRIALIST WHO DIED IN THE PLANE CRASH WITHOUT A WRITTEN
OR
ORAL "WILL" ATTACHED TO THIS ACCOUNT.AND AS THE PERSONAL ATTORNEY TO
THE
LATE INDUSTRIALIST AND I PERSONALLY HAVE WATCHED WITH KEEN INTEREST TO
SEE
THE NEXT OF KIN SINCE HIS DEATH IN 2002. THIS HAVE PROVED ABORTIVE AS
NO ONE
HAS COME UP TO CLAIM HIS FUNDS HENCE THERE IS NO NEXT OF KIN OR "WILL"
ATTACHED TO THE ACCOUNT.

AS THE PERSONAL ATTORNEY TO THE DECEASED, I AM CAPABLE OF TRANSFERING
THE
ASSETS OF THE LATE INDUSTRIALIST'S ACCOUNT TO ANY FOREIGN BANK ACCOUNT
OF MY
CHOICE SINCE I HAVE ALL THE NECESSARY DOCUMENTS FOR THE SMOOTH
TRANSFER.
THE TOTAL AMOUNT INVOLVED IS 15M US DOLLARS (FIFTEEN MILLION UNITED
STATES
DOLLARS).

HOWEVER, I NEED A FOREIGN PARTNER WHO WILL ACT AS THE NEXT OF KIN AND
BENEFICIARY TO THE INDUSTRIALIST AND PROVIDE A RELIABLE OFFSHORE BANK
ACCOUNT WHERE WE CAN TRANSFER THE US 15M DOLLARS(FIFTEEN MILLION UNITED
STATES DOLLARS).I HAVE ALREADY DONE ALL THE NECCESARY GROUND WORKS FOR
THE
SMOOTH TRANSFER OF THE FUNDS.HOWEVER, I NEED YOU TO ACT AS THE NEXT OF
KIN
TO THE DECEASED BY PROVIDING THE FOLLOWING.

A. YOUR FULL NAME AND ADDRESS.
B. YOUR FAX/TELEPHONE NUMBER.
C YOUR AGE & OCCUPATION.

SINCE I HAVE ALL THE DOCUMENTS FOR THE SMOOTH TRANSFER, THE MOMENT I
RECIEVE
ALL THE ABOVE ( A-B ) , IT WILL TAKE US LESS THAN 11 BANKING DAYS TO
TRANSFER THE MONEY INTO YOUR BANK ACCOUNT.FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE AND
CO-OPERATION, YOU WILL TAKE 50% OF THE ENTIRE US 15M UNITED STATES
DOLLARS),
WHILE 45% WILL BE FOR ME, AND THE REMAINING 5% WILL BE MAPPED OUT FOR
ANY
EXPENSES OR TAX AS MAY BE REQUIRED BY YOUR GOVERNMENT. UPON THE RECEIPT
OF
YOUR POSITIVE RESPONSE, I SHALL SECURE ALL THE NECCESARY DOCUMENTS
CONCERNING THE TRANSACTION IN YOUR FAVOUR FOR THE URGENT TRANSFER OF
THE
DECEASED FUND TO YOUR ACCOUNT. IF YOU WISH TO VIEW THIS WEB SITE ON THE
INTERNET TO CONFIRM THE PLANE CRASH
www.disasterrelief.org/Disasters/020506nigeriacrash

THANK YOU AS I AWAIT YOUR IMMEDIATE REPLY.

GRATEFULLY TREAT AS URGENT.

MY VERY BEST REGARDS.

BAR. LOUIS MBANEFO(SAN

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