Journal of African Studies and Sustainable Development Vol. 2 No 1, 2019.

ISSN: 2630-7073(Online) 2640-7065(Print)

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THE EFFECT OF BRAIN DRAIN AND MIGRATION ON NIGERIAN'S

DEVELOPMENT

Gregory Ebalu Ogbenika, Ph.D.

Department of Philosophy, Seminary of All Saints, Uhiele - Ekpoma, Edo
State, Nigeria.
Email: oshokwe67@gmail.com. Tel: 08032323209

Abstract
The future of any nation depends largely on the educated and skilled individuals, they
are responsible for the development of the nation and are the greatest resources the
nation can ever boast about, not oil, agriculture, gross domestic profit etc. It is the
people that develop the nation and not just the availability of natural resources,
Nigeria is a typical example because in spite of the available human and natural
resources the nation still remains in a quagmire due to corruption and looting of
public funds. This problem is further complicated by the scourge of the migration of
Nigerians to developed nations, which has led to brain drain in many aspects of our
life as a nation. The magnitude of the migration of experts and talented citizens
threaten to constitute a clog in the overall development of Nigeria. This study
therefore intends to reveal that national growth and development cannot be realize
when there is a high level of migration of experts from Nigeria. The paper shall further
expose the causes of this endemic movement of Nigerians on the basis of corruption
which has led to an increase in unemployment and cruel economic state. It further
will reveal the effect of migration on different aspects of the nation. The paper shall
conclude that national development cannot be achieved if this growing trend of
migration of competent Nigerians overseas is not curtailed. It shall attempt to identify
all that must be put in place to ensure the provision of suitable platform and basic
opportunity for individuals to explore their ingenuities in the life of the nation.
Key Words: Brain Drain, Migration, Nigeria, Development, Educated, Skilled
labour.

Introduction
In those days, our fore-fathers were carted away by compulsion to foreign
lands, where they knew not, in millions they were forced out of their homes,
able bodied men, remaining a few males, women and children, our land were
left bare, development was stale, the act was called the trans-Atlantic slave
trade. The slave trade is seen by so many scholars of African mind-sets as that
which hindered the development of the rich endowed continent, from human
to natural resources as viewed by Walter Rodney in his Publication How
Europe Underdeveloped Africa (1972). After over 200 years, this migration
has resurfaced in another form, as against the former in which they were

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carted away unwilling, the latter is a deliberate means of search for route out
of Nigeria, this happens in two ways, on the one hand, those who are
educated in search for means to practice their expertise due to unfavourable
platform in the Country known as Brain Drain, and on the other hand, the
movement of those who are in search for greener pasture even when they
have nothing to offer to the country of their destination which is known as
migration.

Furthermore, no doubt that the creativities of many Nigerians and the lack of
opportunity for them to explore their proficiency has made her have a huge
number of her citizen across Europe and America. The irritation of these
issues of movement is that the country has failed to provide the enablement
for her citizens to manifest their abilities and thus brain drain and migration
have added to the anti-development problems faced by Nigeria. While, our
universities have become empty due to poor government policies, going to
school abroad has become a thing of pride, even in neighbouring countries
like Ghana and Benin Republic. In the area of Medical practice it has been
observed that a good number of Nigerian Doctors and Nurses practice their
trade in the United Kingdom, while our politicians who are unable to fix the
Medical sector at home go to the UK for medical attention.

Hence, the movement of Nigerians has also a double sided effect to the nation,
firstly, those who are trained in Nigeria, having attain the required skills leave
and become resourceful to the host nations, secondly, Nigerians have been
made to go through inhumane treatments in their bid to attain greener
pasture, such as the indiscriminate xenophobic attacks on Nigerians who are
in South Africa and brutal treatment of Nigerians as a result of illegitimate
means of migration to Europe through Libya. Through Migration today, many
young girls are engaged in prostitution in Europe, some boys are involved in
drug dealing, some are of the opinion that they would rather die than to
return home.

This burden of migration has heavily been laid on the issue of corruption, but
Nigerians migrating want and desire a ‘better life’ and nothing wrong in that,
but what has led to such movement and how they can be corrected is what
this paper seek to expose. Although several studies have been conducted on
the consequences of brain drain and migration on the developing nations.
nevertheless, this paper tend to provide the reader with an in-depth analysis
of the Brain Drain and migration phenomenon and its implications to the
development of Nigeria, it further propels a clarion call to all well meaning
Nigerians as stakeholders to the issue on ground and be effective in bringing

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to bare-less minimum the scourge of brain drain which hampers the

development of Nigeria.

An Expose of Brain Drain and Migration

The Cambridge Dictionary (2016) defined Brain Drain as “the situation in
which large numbers of educated and very skilled people leave their own
country to live and work in another country where pay and conditions are
better.” Furthermore, Nadja, explains that “Brain Drain is the preponderance
of the migration of highly skilled and educated persons from poor,
developing and less industrialized countries to richer, more developed ones”
(2008-2009, p.14). Brain drain can also be said to be the situation whereby a
country loses those who are highly educated and talented workers in specific
fields to other nations. Brain drain is largely seen as a problem, for the reason
that competent persons leave their country and exercise their expertise to
boost the economy of other nations. Their home country is left to suffer,
because most of those who remain don’t have the ability to make a difference
or because their contributions are insignificant. Meanwhile, migration is the
movement of people from one place to another. Migration can be international
or local. The former means the movement from one country to another while
the latter implies the movement within a country from one city to another.
The following reasons are considered as the causes of migration, economic,
social, political or environmental.

More so, Brain drain “involves the problem of the outflow of trained or skilled
personnel from developing to developed countries” (Grubel and Scott, 1977:
p. 64). It is in the above views that Nadja Johnson (2008) express that, the
developed (receiving) country gains extra skills and resources from the
migration as it continues to become wealthier. On the other hand, the
developing (source) country loses highly skilled manpower and human
capital and inevitably becomes poorer (p. 1). Furthermore, Akusoba (2014)
states that the examples of uncomfortable situations in one place while other
areas with advanced technology and well developed economy with a high
standard of living are big attractions. Therefore, People opt for migration and
leave their homelands because of the dynamic process involve in the
migration (p. 4). More so, Grubel and Scott (1977), states that there are three
main reasons people leave their home country namely: to receive higher
incomes, to capitalize on better career developmental opportunities and to
gain a greater degree of freedom.

Causes of Bran Drain and Migration

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There are various causes of brain drain and migration of people form their
own lands to foreign countries. Ernst Georg Ravenstein, in his work, Law of
Migration (1885), explained that there are two laws that guides migration
principles, namely, the principle of push factor and the pull factor. Push
factors are variables which motivates migrants out of their home countries,
they are characteristics in the countries which produce migration. The push
factors are negative features of the home country that form the drive for
intelligent people migrating from developing nations. Aside unemployment
and political instability, some other push factors are the absence of research
facilities, employment discrimination, economic underdevelopment, lack of
freedom, and poor working conditions.

Meanwhile, pull factors are positive variables which attract and induce
foreigners to the receiving country, they are the positive characteristics of the
developed country from which the migrant would benefit. These are the
incentives in the receiving countries that encourage persons to seek
employment opportunities thereby leaving their homes. These features
includes higher remuneration and a better standard of living, superior
economic outlook, the prestige of foreign training, relatively stable political
environment, a modernized educational system to allow for superior training,
intellectual freedom, and rich cultures.

The Causes of Brain Drain and Migration of Nigerians

Since the start of the new millennium, there has been a significant increase in
the migration of highly educated and talented Nigerians to Europe, the
Americas and Asia. It is significant and detrimental because while Nigeria
lags in development the receiving end which is a developed nation enjoys
more of the fruits of our labours. Nigeria has had her citizens in many parts of
the world and they are doing so many amazing things in different fields of
human endeavors. The consequences of migration is brain drain whereby
those who are endowed academically and gifted to bring about development
in the nation are away. Migration has become a bane to the development of
Nigeria, a lot of her young citizens are excelling in various fields overseas.

The proportion at which Nigerians who are professional in their fields leave
their fatherland to practice their expertise in foreign lands in the last two
decades has worsened the brain drain issue. The migration of specialists out
of the Nigeria to other countries of the world where economic certainty and
good standard of living is guaranteed is a pest to the development of Nigeria
while host nations enjoy the fruits of the nations that have trained the
individual without paying the cost of educating them, Nigeria languish in

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development. Adeyemi et al., (2018), states that “this development is being

seen as a problem, due to the fact that the most competent and highly skilled
labor travelled out of their countries to contribute their quota to the
development of other nations while leaving their countries underdeveloped”
(p. 67).

The migration of skilled and highly trained individual ought to be from

nations that are developed and to be beneficial to developing nations in which
the migrant now reside, but in the case of Nigeria, a nation which lingers in
under-development, the case is the other way round. Adeyemi et al., (2018),
expresses that between 1980 and 1990, Nigerian universities faced the most
disturbing effect of the brain drain scourge. It all began in the late 70s and
early 80s when medical doctors migrated to the Middle East especially Saudi
Arabia for greener pastures (p. 69). Just recently, the Nigerian Minister of
labour, Chris Ngige discussing about the issue of Brain Drain in the medical
field states that Nigeria have surplus Doctors. Thus “If you have surplus, you
export… Who said we don’t have enough doctors? We have more than
enough. You can quote me. There is nothing wrong in them travelling out.
When they go abroad, they earn money and send them back home here. Yes,
we have foreign exchange earnings from them and not just oil.”

How can we have surplus when our hospitals are without doctors, adequate
drugs and equipment? How can we have surplus when the World Health
Organization recommends one doctor to 600 people but the ratio of the
physician-patient in Nigeria is from 1:4,000 to 1:5,000? But our Physicians
migrate to UK to practice, a country whose physician-patient ratio in the U.K.
is 1:300. At this point, it is pertinent to look into some causes of brain drain
and migration in Nigeria.

High Level of Unemployment: Unemployment is one of the main reasons

why Nigerians depart overseas for greener pastures, getting most jobs is
Nigeria is not based on merit but they depend on how connected the person
seeking the job is to those in top positions. To get a job one has to know
someone who knows someone, and those who have no connection find it
difficult to be employed regardless of their quality of education and grades.
Also most employers believe that Nigerian graduates are unemployable
because of the state of the educational institutions, particularly public schools.
Education is constantly promoted and encouraged, but then there is limited
opportunity for employment.

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Also, Akusoba, (2014) states the obvious truth is that “many Nigerian
graduates are unemployable because of the deplorable state of Nigeria
universities. Most employers prefer to employ graduates with foreign
certificates in place of those with local certificates because they think that
Nigeria education lacks quality” (p. 19). Many of our graduates are
uneducated flaunting certificates which they cannot defend. Another factor
responsible for lack of jobs in Nigeria is the rapid growth in population and
an inadequate supply of jobs, there is massive shortage of employment
opportunities, funds meant for building industries are syphoned into private
pockets, this also creates unemployment. Furthermore, the advent of oil has
been a bane and led to low level of diversification of the economy, the absence
of white collar jobs and less level of creativity, many Nigerians are only
concerned about graduating from the University and getting a white collar
job.

Hence, many university graduates are without work, some have spent months
and years in search of jobs, and failure to secure one force them to migrate to
foreign nations in search of work, meanwhile, so many are forced to school
outside and return home for work having earned a foreign certificate or some
go having earned the certificate get a better job package.

Poor Educational Sector: So many of our public educational institutions lack

the basic infrastructure and facilities which has led to the migration of some
our undergraduates to foreign universities for studies and who do not come
back to help in the rebuilding of the nation, they become accustomed to their
newfound society and this spells doom for Nigeria. Also, the constant strikes
organised by the Academic Staff Union of Universities has affected the
duration students are supposed to spend in tertiary institutions, it is common
to find some undergraduates spending up to six or more years for a course
duration that is supposed to last for four years. These strikes are not in any
way beneficial to the students or for the infrastructural development of the
institution, rather, they are sometimes driven towards a selfish motif of the
lecturers. Also, our educational sector has been affected by corruption, to the
level that most examinations conduction are not free of malpractices,
malpractice to some extent has even become a regular practice. Therefore,
these irregularities in our universities often prompt some of our young ones to
migrate to other countries to study.

Economic Reason: The fluctuating nature of the Nigerian economy has led to
many migrating overseas in search for greener pasture. Poverty is no doubt on
the increase in Nigeria, many Nigerians live below a dollar daily, and making

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ends meet becomes difficult for an average Nigerian and leads to the
migration of many youths across the Mediterranean borders in search of
greener pastures where some have met their untimely death. Also the poor
economic condition in Nigeria has resulted to Brain Drain, whereby a skilled
worker leaves Nigeria for another country in search for better economic
conditions in order to secure a better job, increase standard of living, get a
better salary package etc.,
Corruption: Chinua Achebe stated that “Nigerians are corrupt because the
system they live under today makes corruption easy and profitable” (2012: p.
249). Little wonder the former British Prime Minister stated that Nigerians are
fantastically corrupt. The dominance of corruption in Nigeria has persistently
call for serious worry and attention. “A corrupt free environment gives room
for investment and efforts to increase the pie other than merely fighting over
its distribution and thus promote growth. To this end, good governance and
low level of corruption accelerate the process of development.” (Adeyemi,
2018; p. 69)

Insecurity: Taft and Haken (2015), states that Nigeria’s Fourth Republic,
which began in 1999 with the election of Olusegun Obasanjo has been fraught
with security challenges, including spikes in communal and sectarian violence
in the Middle Belt, militancy and criminality in the Niger Delta, and
insurgency in the Northeast (p. 1). Coupled with the threats and widespread
of the Fulani Herdsmen in various nook and cranny of the country as well as
the poor level of our security forces has also contributed to the growth of
these violence and insecurity. Most importantly, unresponsive attitude of the
government to bring to an end the recurrent issues of violence has forced
many Nigerians to flee the nation in search of security in other countries.

Effects of Brain Drain and Migration in Nigeria

It has now become a thing of joy for many Nigerians to leave the country in
search of greener pasture due to the deplorable state of the country. Ademeyi
et al, (2018), states that “brain drain affects development and its effect
becomes unambiguously negative when the emigration rate is high” (p. 73).
One of the main effects of Brain Drain and Migration of Nigerians to other
parts of the world is that the output of these Nigerians is less felt or not felt at
all in their home Country, rather, it benefits the host nations. Consequently,
Alabi (2015), asserted that Nigeria have lost large amounts of revenue from
tax as a result of a brain drain of competent and educated people, while
Nigeria is seriously in search of qualified and skilled workers to develop their
country, but unfortunately, most of these skilled individuals are boosting the
GDP of developed nations and they are mainly from developing nations

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particularly Nigeria (pp. 121-130). In recent times Nigerians have excelled in

various fields, but these acknowledgement are accorded to either America or
Britain where the individuals reside. Example includes computer scientist
Philip Emeagwali, renowned for his giant stride in the production of the
fastest computer system. The Times Magazine named him as ‘the Unsung
Hero behind the Internet.

Also, in the area of Sports, Anthony Joshua until his defeat to Andy Ruiz on
1st June, 2019 was a unified world heavyweight champion, holding three of
the four major championships in boxing, he has also represented Great Britain
at the 2012 Olympics, winning gold. Also, Christine Ijeoma Ohuruogu,
Nigeria born has won a gold medal, silver medal and two bronze medals for
Great Britain in three Olympics and Nigeria as a nation has not recorded a
single Gold medal since the Athens 2008 Olympic games. In the
Entertainment Industry, Sade Adu and Seal (Olusegun Olumide Adeola
Samuel), who are Nigerians by origin have won the most prized Grammy
award four times each, an award which no Nigeria has won while at home.

In addition to these, the health sector has witnessed the ingenuity of Nigerians
in America and United Kingdom, aside the many medical specialists that have
migrated to these countries, notable among them is Benneth Omalu, a forensic
pathologist, and neuropathologist who was the first to discover and publish
findings of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) in American football
players while working at the Allegheny County coroner's office in Pittsburgh.
He later became the chief medical examiner for San Joaquin County,
California, and is a professor at the University of California, Davis,
department of medical pathology and laboratory medicine (Laskas, 2015).
Because of his exploit, a movie titled Concussion (2016) was done, with Will
Smith Playing the major character.

Furthermore, brain drain and migration has caused a high level of shortage of
important, skilled workers across different sectors in Nigeria. This also results
to a reduction in the quality of service due to the absence of skilled personnel
in Nigeria. The issues of bad leadership, corruption, poor infrastructure and
lack of visionary plan can be tied back to brain drain and migration, in the
sense that those who are supposed to govern or hold various offices are far
from the shores of Nigeria. The mass exploration of Nigerians has also
increase drastically our level of dependence on foreign aid by Nigerian
government, (Osinowo, 2005), explains that it costs Nigeria billions of naira
(huge foreign exchange) to replace Nigerians with expatriates from the West;

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it brings about separation of family members and leads to less adequate

family cohesion thereby promoting delinquency (p. 244).

While Brain Drain and Migration are linked together, Emeghara, (2013),
introduces a third concept to this problem of mass exploration of Nigerians
overseas, he calls it brain waste, which he explains that “it is a situation
whereby foreign nationals or workers are often hired to do jobs for which they
are over qualified. For instance, there are many Nigerian doctors and
European scientists working as taxi drivers in some large United States of
American cities like New York, Chicago, Texas, Michigan, Washington, etc.,
(p. 112).

The Way Forward and Conclusion

The issue of mass exploration of Nigerians is an issue which must be address
with immediate effect. The migration of Nigerians who are highly educated
and gifted with different talents to developed nations will continue as long as
the poverty level remains. Najda, (2008) explains that “The smaller and less
developed the country is, the more difficult it will be for it to compete globally
and retain a skilled workforce” (p. 15). How then can this movement be
curtailed? It is in this sense that Adeyemi et al., (2018), offers five ways in
which Nigeria can solve the problem of brain drain and migration.

Firstly, he explains that the policymakers need to put in place sufficient

incentives and mechanisms for migrants and their families to invest
remittances in capital-accumulation projects that benefit the whole Nigerian
economy. Secondly, he views that there is a need for the government to create
programmes that can enable youths to realize their potentials, particularly in
areas of Information Technology innovation hubs, encourage local contents
and also provide opportunities for her citizens to study specialized
programmes. Thirdly, he suggest that there should be an increase in the
number of lucrative jobs in the Nigeria and a reduction in the number of
educational visas that allow young Nigerians to study abroad. Fourth, a
sound macroeconomic policy should be put in place. Finally, the government
should eradicate corruption and nepotism at all levels of government (pp. 73-
74).

In as much as there is no place like home, home has to be made safe, home has
to provide the enabling environment for her citizens to develop, home has to
provide the platform. No person would sojourn abroad if the condition of
service as well as the general outlook of the economy is relatively okay.
Government should, therefore, address those issues highlighted above which

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compels Nigerian professionals to travel abroad. Although, this paper

expounds that Brain drain and migration are some of the factors which
negates the development of Nigeria, however, some benefits that can be
derived from the phenomena, which implies that having acquired expertise
and skills in developed countries, it will be of benefits if these Nigerians
return home to develop their Fatherland. Also, the remittances; the migrants
send home is used to develop the economy. But in general the problem is that
the Nigeria society does not offer the enabling conditions and environment for
them to practice, whereas going abroad enable them to acquire more expertise
and outshine their colleagues who are based in Nigeria.

Furthermore, the obvious implication of this scenario is that Nigeria is being

deprived of the valuable contributions of this highly skilled manpower who
are migrants in other countries. In as much as brain drain has crippled the
development of Nigeria it has also not placed the nation in the place it
deserved through the achievements of her citizen who reside in other nations.
This mass exploration is one of the reasons Nigeria has developed poorly in
the areas of science and technology, because the nation does not create the
platform for those talented in the field to practice their expertise which would
consequently lead to their migration.

Thus, the educational system needs to be reformed in order to produce skilled

graduates, innovators, and entrepreneurs, also, practice and research should
be a priority, not just theoretical learning. Furthermore, the government needs
to create schools, good amenities, infrastructure and job opportunities in rural
areas. This will cut the level of migration to cities, thus reducing high
population and unemployment in the cities. The Nigerian government must
implement new policies and diversify the economy to ensure that there are
available employment opportunities for the labour force.

In conclusion, unless concerted efforts by all well meaning Nigerians

especially those in government in a tackling the problems of Brain Drain and
migration. we shall remain the giant or Lion of Africa that cannot roar and
blossom into rapid development that will propel us into belonging to the
comity of developed nations.

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Development of Developing Countries: Evidence from Selected African
Countries” in Journal of Health and Social Issues (JOHESI). Vol. 7 No. 2,

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September. Department of Sociology, Faculty of The Social Sciences

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