I spent the last few minutes digging through the website of International Monetary Fund (IMF) to see if I can find any data that will make it easier to place a figure on the level of Brain drain that Nigeria is facing.
Having access to such data would also help to compare it with the level of Brain drain faced by other 3rd world countries,
...but I didn't get what I was looking for.
So, this will be written with a broader view of brain drain and we will be looking at why this can hurt an economy.
First things first, Brain drain occurs when the human capital of a country migrates from that country to another in search of an improved standard of living.
Tentatively, there is a massive issue of Brain drain facing many developing countries. For the most part, professionals that are part of the workforce in a developing country like Nigeria do not come close to earning what their counterparts earn in more decent parts of the world.
The unstable economy and poor working conditions also make it unbearable for professionals to cope in their working environment. When all these play out in a recurring manner, the desire to explore better alternatives serves as a motivation for people to go beyond borders in search of opportunities.
Do you get the idea of why Brain drain occurs?
People make the mistake of thinking that everyone in developing countries fundamentally wants to jump inside an aeroplane and fly to an already developed country to live there forever.
You think it's out of desire, but that's not always the case. For the most part, this is an outcome of a decision reached out of necessity.
As more people realize that what they get in their country is below par in comparison to what they can get in another part of the world, they will become more motivated to leave their country. It creates a massive annual exodus in the workforce of a developing country.
Here is why this can hurt a country;
You can't succeed as a country if you can't retain your workforce and this fact has been proven on several occasions in countries that are heavily affected by Brain drain. Nigeria is not any different.
Back in 2021 when we started seeing a massive exodus of healthcare professionals in Nigeria, the Minister of Labour said we have surplus doctors ~ source. In other words, he didn't see a reason to panic.
But, even a highly populated country like ours with all the thousands of medical practitioners that get certified each year can still struggle to cope with the level of exodus we have been facing.
The ratio between available experts in various fields in comparison to those in need of their expertise shows that there is an existing imbalance. When the best talents are not available, it becomes even harder for a country to experience growth and development.
The issue of Brain drain is basically why 'developing countries are still 'developing' at a very slow pace. They can't go beyond that level if they can't work on making their economy a more enticing place for their workforce.
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