| Archive for NaijaPositive.com Dedicated to providing you with POSITIVE news and updates about Nigeria. |
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Nigerians Contributing from Brain GainNigerians Contributing from Brain GainNigeria like some other less privileged countries, has suffered a significant loss of its human resources due to economic insufficiencies. Despite having suffered gravely from Brain Drain; like some Asian and Latin countries, Nigeria can likewise learn to turn this disadvantage into an advantage by harvesting the fruits from the export of its qualified citizens who are currently in the Diaspora, so that it becomes a Brain Gain that will help lift up the country. Citizens of India and Pakistan who at one time fled their countries en masse are today also returning home in significant enough numbers to contribute positively to their own countries. This is part of the reason why India is a call center for some European nations. Likewise IT specialist from these countries have been in higher demand as they are of greater benefit to the IT industry, but what is better than to offer these very services from ones own country. Likewise migrants from Taiwan and some Eastern European countries are also returning home to use the additional skills and knowledge they garnered in the Diaspora in their own home countries. There comes a day, when those who left for foreign countries for whatever reasons, even those who fled, will realize that "the countries they left behind cannot progress to be what they wish they could be, nor can their own countries rise to the standards which they have now embraced in their host country and/or new countries of residence, without their contribution and participation." If for instance, all qualified Nigerian doctors migrate to foreign countries, how can we expect quality medical provision for our relatives which we have left back home. Moreso, how can we then justly complain that there are no qualified doctors at home to treat our relatives. Regardless of the professions that have suffered gravely from Brain Drain, the impact on society as a whole is the same. America knows it can get qualified professionals from Nigeria, hence the reason it continues to offer its Visa lottery program to attract qualified Nigerians to fill the positions which its own citizens do not adequately qualify for. For instance, the number of Nigerians in Nursing, Teaching or IT jobs would not presently be as high as it is, if America had enough professionals in those fields. Neither would Nigerians continue to fill up the less desirable jobs as Taxi Drivers and Security Guards DESPITE their higher educational qualifications, if Americans were willing to embrace these menial jobs. Why should we continue to sell ourselves short? Nigerians qualifying for the Visa lottery because of their education and skills, only to end up in America jobless or doing menial jobs because the jobs they thought they would get are already insufficient for the citizens of their host country. One would wonder, was America not aware of their growing level of unemployment before offering visa lottery to this people, or could America care less, since these migrants are simply human resources that can fill America's human resource needs at whatever levels they end up fitting in to. The same applies to countries that actively recruit Nigerians in Europe. As some of us are getting older, we begin to realize that the contribution to our home countries at the grass root stage is what will lead to the positive turn around we crave for; and the willingness and ability to turn this into a reality is the beginning of Brain Gain. Our willingness and ability to return to our home country, regardless of the imagined or real obstacles and shortcomings; and our genuine efforts in beginning to contribute to the advancement of our country albeit in small quantities, using the additional skills and experiences we have acquired while abroad is what will bring Brain Gain into actualization, and raise Nigeria (in our particular instance) to the standard which we wish for it. Some of the qualified people whom Obasanjo invited home to work in his administration are already contributing positively to the advancement of the country and a reversal from its prior disposition, but it will take additional hands and minds to make Nigeria excel beyond our present gains. The success in getting The Paris Club to write off $18 million of Nigeria's debt for instance involved the joint efforts of those who turned Brain Drain into Brain Gain for Nigeria, and if these people can do it, so can we all. We should not allow fear to paralyze us into continuing to prosper foreign countries at the expense of our own countries. We should not continue to be 'voluntary slaves' to our host countries at the expense of the development of our own countries. We can start today, by taking little steps and contributing in whatever way we can. We can use all that has been added to our foundation which was initially built in Nigeria to rebuild our country into that where Brain Gain rather than Brain Drain will be the new order of the day. We can thereby also encourage those who chase the visa lottery to instead have pride in Nigeria, be patriotic citizens, and instead choose to contribute to the progress and prosperity to our country. Some people who have resided in their host countries have overstayed their time and feel it's too late to return to their home countries, probably because they no longer have immediate family there, they have nothing significant to return to, or they have nothing tangible to show for their sojourn aboard. They sometimes express their dissatisfaction and regrets as they age and realize their elderly life abroad can never be as satisfying as that which they would have in their home countries. They feel their contributions to their host country, despite the economic benefits, may have been in vain, as it can never make up for the loss which they now feel in their old age. Some people will say, that can never be them, but so said these older people when they were still in their youth. Yes, there will always be emigration, and people will choose to remain domicile in their host countries for whatever reasons (long-term commitments, obligations, health reasons, etc.), but there comes a time to make a choice. What would you choose? Cxsm 6th Aug. '05 © Cxsm 2005 All Rights Reserved |
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Graduate Establishes School, Library, Clinic in NigeriaGraduate Establishes School, Library, Clinic in NigeriaNigeria Today Online 14th March '08 Adamma Ibeawuchi, a graduate of Emporia State University and now a resident of Sebring, Florida, USA, is devoting her time and her talents to establishing a much-needed school, library and medical clinic in Owerri, Imo State. Though schools are provided by the government of that country, they are often poorly staffed, do not serve food, have few books and other school supplies. Adamma’s school, Brighton Hall Academy, presently has an enrollment of only 17 students and meets in a converted apartment building but, thanks to her efforts to send a container of books, desks, glue, scissors and other teaching supplies, the children have a very attractive learning environment. The school provides uniforms and two meals a day to all students. It also contains a library of over 10,000 volumes of books as well as numerous audio-visual supplies and equipment. Adamma’s mother, Dr. Shirle Ibeawuchi, spent six months in Nigeria in 2007 collecting the items from the container, organizing the library, staffing the school and the many other things needed to establish a new school. The school has children age 2 to 9 in its academic classes. The children are taught using the Nigerian curriculum with the addition of hands-on computer instruction. Dr. Ibeawuchi said that the instructional method in Nigeria is very rote-orientated and the children and teachers are not used to learning any other way. One of the hard things to teach was the use of educational toys, such as blocks that were sent from the United States. The teachers would ask, “What are these used for?” Even the library is an extra hard problem to get cataloged and organized as none of the staff have even seen a well-equipped library. When it is fully functional, the library will be used by adults and children in the community as well as the school personnel. English is the official language of Nigeria so the school teaches all subjects in English and also teaches one Nigerian language and French. They hope to add other languages in the future. Adamma is also building a medical clinic in a village in Nigeria that is the original home of her father, Asuzu Ibeawuchi, Sr. Adamma, though born in the U.S., first traveled to Nigeria when she was 5 years of age and lived there continually until she was in junior high school. At the start of the Biafran-Nigeria war, Adamma and her siblings relocated in the U.S. with their mother until the war ceased when they were reunited with her father. The situation in Nigeria deteriorated tremendously after the war and has not as yet regained its former standing. “I never forgot those days in Nigeria and always hoped to be able to provide children there with some of the things I could take for granted in the U.S.,” Adamma said. Adamma, besides working on the Nigerian projects, is working a full-time job with an educational association in Florida. She feels that one of the great needs of the people in Nigeria is medical care. The hospitals and medical clinics are few and people must travel great distances for simple first aide. Many children and mothers die during childbirth because of these conditions. One of the things the clinic will strive to do is educate the people in first aide techniques, pre and post natal child care, and malaria and AIDS prevention. AIDS is not yet a great problem in Nigeria but care must be taken to prevent it from becoming so. Another great need is in the area of mental health information and treatment. The school, library and clinic must try to overcome the inconvenience caused by the general lack of sufficient pure water, the lack of reliable electricity, expensive transportation and other problems that exist, at present in much of the country. The atmosphere in Nigeria is not one of bleakness because of the uplifting attitude of the people. Adamma believes that she will succeed, “in realizing my goals of a better future.” |
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Nostalgia, Commitment as UI Trained Doctors in US Raise $18G in one sitting to save UCH
http://odili.net/news/source/2003/jul/11/58.html |
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Nigerian Doctors in America Contributing to NigeriaNigerian Doctors in America Contributing to NigeriaAssociation of Nigerian Physicans in the Americas [ANPA] Doctors have made several missions visits to Nigeria using their mediacl skills and experience to benefit Nigerians in Nigeria. List of ANPA Missions to date http://www.anpa.org/medicalmission.php Nigerian Doctors are invited to volunteer http://www.volunteersforprosperity.gov/news/ANPA_20070213.doc Cxsm |
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100 Nigerian Doctors Return from Cuba100 Nigerian Doctors to Return from CubaThe Tribune 6/26/07 One hundred Nigerian doctors are to graduate from Cuban medical schools and return to Nigeria in August. The Cuban Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Elio Olivia, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja that the students had been studying in Cuba for the past seven years. He said it had always been the policy of the Cuban government to train people in different fields, especially in the medical profession. “Nigerian medical students are graduating this August and they are very happy about it,’’ he said. The ambassador said despite limitations brought about by decades of economic sanctions by the United States, Cuba had sent doctors to 70 countries. Olivia said Cuba had also provided modest amount of scholarship to some Nigerians in careers such as engineering, sports, telecommunications and agriculture. On sports, he said about eight Nigerians had benefited from Cuban scholarships with two more to be trained in Physical Education at the Cuban International Sports Institute. “They are trained as trainers so that when they come back to Nigeria, they can train others from their wealth of knowledge and experience,’’ he said. Olivia said although Cuba had a population of 11 million, it had emerged as the 10th best in the Olympics. |
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Oil-rich Nigeria Enjoys 'Brain Gain'Oil-rich Nigeria Enjoys 'Brain Gain'http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/20...ca/AF-FEA-Nigerias-Brain-Gain.php |
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Reverse Brain Drain as Ambitious Nigerians Come HomeReverse Brain Drain as Ambitious Nigerians Come HomeNick Tattersall Lagos (Reuters) From cocktails with hip-hop stars to sushi with smooth-suited bankers, it's no wonder Nigerians moving back after decades in New York or London feel right at home among the high-rolling elite of Lagos. This urban sprawl of 14 million people, the chaotic hub of Africa's most populous nation, may epitomize what many foreigners fear most about megacities in the developing world: violent crime, corrupt police and crumbling infrastructure. Yet legions of young Nigerians, educated at English public schools and U.S. Ivy League universities, are leaving highly paid careers with Wall Street banks and City of London consultancies to return to the Lagos hustle. The draw? Not just a pay package that approaches or matches what is on offer in the United States or Europe, but a dash of patriotism -- a chance to help fulfill an ambition of building world-class Nigerian businesses as an example to the rest of Africa. "In the States, it's an established economy. You can't create another Apple, you can't create another Microsoft, you can't really create another Disney," said Michael Akindele, who left U.S. consultancy firm Accenture to set up his own business investing in Nigerian media and entertainment. "I'm stepping away from that salary, that comfortable, stable environment where you have power all the time, you have water all the time. But here I can create the lifestyle I want." Nigeria is the world's eighth biggest oil exporter but its economy has been hobbled by decades of endemic corruption and unemployment is high. A power sector crisis, which means much of the country can go without electricity for weeks or months, has closed hundreds of factories and cut thousands of jobs in sub-Saharan Africa's largest economy after South Africa. Many wealthy Nigerians of Akindele's generation were sent to boarding schools in England or the United States in the late 1980s and 1990s, when Nigeria was a military dictatorship with little foreign investment and a disintegrating education system. They watched with cautious optimism as it began to return to democracy in 1999 with the election of Olusegun Obasanjo after three decades of military rule, and welcomed the reforms he started to push through after winning a second term in 2003. When Nigeria used $12 billion of oil savings to pay back debts owed to the Paris Club of rich creditor nations in 2005, and won the write-off of a further $18 billion in return, foreign investors and diaspora Nigerians sat up and took note. "I was following all this from London and started to believe now was the time to start planning to come back," said Kayode Akindele, 28, no relation to Michael, who returned to work for United Bank for Africa's (UBA) investment banking arm, UBA Global Markets. ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT Kayode Akindele, an Oxford graduate who lived in Britain for more than 16 years, was working on structured derivatives for Lloyds TSB in London when he was introduced to Tony Elumelu, chief executive of UBA, two years ago. Elumelu was looking to build a world-class investment bank in Nigeria and Akindele's skills were exactly what he needed. "There was a sense of patriotism. I have always regarded myself as Nigerian and planned to return to Nigeria eventually," said Akindele, now a vice president at UBA Global Markets. Financial sector reforms in 2005 forced Nigeria's banks to consolidate, creating multibillion-dollar institutions with the capacity to branch out into sophisticated new markets and pay salaries on a par with some of their Western peers. Banks have also seen explosive growth on the back of record oil prices and a growing middle class among Nigeria's 140 million people, and have been aggressively raising capital and increasing their capacity to lend. Diaspora Nigerians -- with experience in banking but also the cultural knowledge to navigate the complexities of doing business in Nigeria -- have been in high demand ever since. "I think there's a window that will be there for maybe another 18 months to two years," said Chuka Mordi, head of business development at First City Monument Bank. "That's the view at the moment, that people moving back understand exotic products ... but it will percolate to the local sector and people will learn these things and there won't be any need to drag investment bankers from New York or London." Nigeria's $95 billion stock market was one of the best performing emerging markets in the world last year, attracting private equity and hedge fund investors from Europe, Asia and the United States. THE LAGOS HUSTLE The world of vanilla interest rate swaps may seem a million miles from the realities of life on the streets of Lagos, where hawkers selling everything from phone charge cards to electric irons ply their trade among belching mini buses and moped taxis. But bankers hope that building strong financial institutions will help open credit lines to millions of would-be entrepreneurs, allowing them to develop small businesses and lift themselves out of the informal sector, which accounts for a major part of the active workforce. "When you see the hustle on the streets of Lagos, all those traders selling all those products, you know the street works," said Obi Asika, an Eton-educated entrepreneur whose own record label sells albums through market traders and street sellers. "You formalize distribution in Nigeria today, it's a billion dollar business. Because everybody needs distribution. Everybody's got products," he said. The idea of making money as a businessman in Nigeria -- long spurned by some of the elite as inferior to a high-powered job in the public sector -- is catching the popular imagination, demonstrating to an ambitious young generation that you don't have to be in the pay of government to get rich. It is a point hammered home by "The Apprentice Africa", a reality TV show co-produced by Michael Akindele's Executive Group and Asika's Storm Media based on the hit U.S. series, in which aspiring entrepreneurs compete for a job with a top businessman. "You get up in the morning and you see all of Lagos on the move, young boys trying to make ends meet. It's an eye-opener," said Isaac Dankyi-Koranteng, winner of the first series, aired on free-to-view TV in Ghana, Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria. The government is still the largest official single employer in Nigeria, and the vast majority of people still live on less than $2 a day, but the new private sector elite hope that if they avoid the mistakes of their kleptocratic predecessors, Nigeria may haul itself out of poverty and corruption. "There are issues. It's not Valhalla. We're not in Milton's Paradise yet," said Asika. "But I believe in Nigeria, I'm positive about this country." (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: africa.reuters.com/ ) (Editing by Clar Ni Chonghaile) |