Author: The Nation

Like many other African countries, Nigeria underperforms due mainly to inability to handle present-day complexities of governance, a situation that breeds maladministration, massive unemployment, escalating poverty and widespread social unrest/frustration. In the last eight years, a combination of escalating economic hardships and socio-political uncertainties has set the country on the painful path of mass migration of its much-needed skilled manpower to foreign lands in what has become the Japa epidemic, reports Assistant Editor LUCAS AJANAKU

Praise Oluwatimilehin studied cyber security in one of the private universities in Nigeria and came out in flying colours. She got a job with one of the new generation banks and was given a fat pay cheque. A smart girl, she didn’t rest on her academic oars. She registered for and obtained several other industry certifications that immediately transformed her into a hot cake. Two years after securing the banking job, she resigned and started working from home. Last year, the 24-year old cyber security expert left the shores of the country in search of the proverbial Golden Fleece in what has become the Japa pandemic, which has eaten deep into all the sectors of the nation’s economy.

 She is not alone in this. Thousands of professionals like her have been leaving the country in droves over the past three years, many taking advantage of the study visa programmes available in many countries. Seven out of 10 Nigerians are willing to relocate to other countries, according to findings by the Nigeria Social Cohesion Survey. This might not be divorced from the crippling poverty, insecurity, hyper-inflation and high youth unemployment rate estimated to be about 53.40 per cent, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) last year.

 According to the World Bank, migration contributes significantly to human development, shared prosperity, and poverty alleviation. Managing migration’s drivers and impacts allow origin and destination countries to share the gains. Chairman, Association of Licensed Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ALTON), Engr. Gbenga Adebayo, said it will be difficult to talk about a better Nigeria without considering the negative impacts of mass migration of the youthful population on the country’s economy and its future.

He said migration is the movement of a person or a group of people to settle in another place, often across a political or administrative boundary. Migration can be temporal or permanent, and it may be voluntary or forced. It is good to know that migration is not exclusive to humans. Animals too, migrate. “Migration may impose high human capital costs for the country by leaving the country without the human capital necessary to achieve long-term economic growth. When countries experience high levels of migration, the young population of that country (country of origin) will not be able to provide economic contributions to the development of their country of origin; this can result in a significant loss of wealth to the country as a whole.”

Economic migration is the movement of people from one country to another to benefit from greater economic opportunities in the receiving country. Political push factors that influence migration are typically persecution based on political identification, civil war and/or policy changes. He said the Japa problem is due to lack of employment and social guarantees on our young population and not due to any political persecution. The most negative impact on our country is the fact that young graduates (and our highly skilled professionals) leave the country for better opportunities.

 “Today many of our engineers, IT specialists, doctors, nurses, engineers and very brilliant professionals are lost to other countries. We cannot build our economy and cannot sustain domestic growth and retention of quality manpower required for nation building if we do not improve on our current situation and if the trend of migration of our very many brilliant young men and women is not halted,” Adebayo warned.

 The failure rate of e-transactions when the CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele implemented the cashless policy was partly blamed on the exodus of IT experts at the banking industry’s backend. Many of the young men and women had fled the country in search of greener pastures. Analysts, however, believe that Nigeria has great potential; she is blessed with many natural resources, free of many natural disasters, and a large proportion of the population are young people.

But the CEO, Sterling Bank, Abubakar Suleiman, said Japa is the greatest opportunity for Africa to export its talents. If we are graduating 400,000 and employing 200,000, we must have a way of employing the remaining. He said Sterling Bank is creating tech hubs, partnering with organisations to make them employable.

The World Bank has, however, urged the country and others currently facing the japa syndrome to manage the process because of its inherent benefits. In its “World Development Report 2023: Migrants, Refugees, and Societies,” the bank stated that labour migration should be made an explicit part of the country’s development strategy. The World Bank recommended that origin countries, including Nigeria, actively manage migration for development. They should lower remittance costs, facilitate knowledge transfers from their diaspora, build skills that are in high demand globally, mitigate the adverse effects of “brain drain,” protect their nationals while abroad, and support them upon their return.

The report further recommended that destination countries encourage migration where the skills that migrants bring are in high demand, facilitate their inclusion, and address social impacts that raise concerns among their citizens. They should also allow refugees to move, get jobs, and access national services wherever they are available. The World Bank emphasised the importance of international cooperation in making migration a strong force for development. Bilateral cooperation can strengthen the match of migrants’ skills with the needs of destination societies. The report underscores the urgency of managing migration better, with policymakers urged to strengthen the match of migrants’ skills with the demand in destination societies while protecting refugees and reducing the need for distressed movements. World Bank Senior Managing Director, Axel van Trotsenburg, said “migration can be a powerful force for prosperity and development. When managed properly, it benefits all people – in origin and destination societies.”

 According to experts, brain drain refers to the movement of educated and skilled workers from nations with lower standards of living to those with higher standards, since the supply of education and skills are often a labour-intensive activity. Since education and skills are important investments in human capital, experts believe that those who have the necessary education or skills are more likely to relocate to industrialised nations, which provide a better return on their invested human capital. This kind of migration, studies have showed, is often supported by legislation and other institutional considerations, since most nations look more favourably on immigration by people with skills or other forms of wealth than on immigration by people without abilities or assets.

 The above explains why some industrialised nations, such as the United States, Canada and United Kingdom, often give precedence in the immigration process to persons who come to their country with sufficient wealth to start new enterprises. This is because the more common kind of capital that immigrants bring with them, namely their education and training, are more likely to position them to become potentially significant drivers of economic expansion in the host country. As it does now with the talented people migrating from countries such as India, China, and several African countries, the United States reaped enormous benefits from the arrival of large numbers of scientists and engineers fleeing Europe before World War II. Today, the United States reaps similar benefits from the migration of talented people from countries such as India, China, and several African countries.

 Experts are worried that when highly qualified people leave a developing nation such as Nigeria, those that emigrate often take a considerable amount of their country’s tax income with them, with several bright and highly-skilled people contributing enormously to the gross domestic product of their host countries are people originally from the developing countries of Africa. Ironically, developing countries in Africa are in desperate need of valuable professionals and personnel in order to develop their economies. Studies have showed that education plays a major influence in the movement of high-level educated workers (brain drain) from poor to affluent nations. This is especially more pronounced among the tribe of scientists, engineers, academics, and physicians, who, after being trained in public institutions in their home countries at considerable social cost, relocate abroad to reap the benefits of human capital investment, thereby further contributing to economic growth of already prosperous nations.

Brain drain in the health sector

Last year, at a symposium organised in Abuja by the development Research and Project Centre (dRPC) in collaboration with the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) to discuss the impact of brain drain on Nigeria’s health sector and its implications on health service delivery, experts expressed worries over the issue. The event brought together policymakers and implementers alongside health professional associations and council executives, who are critical stakeholders in the health systems strengthening process. The high-level symposium focused on discussing current figures related to the health sector’s human capital loss to migration at national and sub-national levels.

Experts said the challenges in the health sector are leading to continuous migration trend of health workers to other countries in search of better work conditions. While delivering his welcome remarks, the Director-General of NIPSS, Prof Ayo Omotayo, said it is sad that more and more persons are leaving the country to settle in developed countries. He added that all sectors in Nigeria have one problem or another, including health which is a critical sector in every country, stressing that the government must act now and fast. “When doctors leave the country, it means we are having existential problems.”

Prof Omotayo said the figures of doctors and nurses leaving the country are high, hence creating a huge gap in the health system. He said Nigeria’s population is increasing massively and so is the need for more health professionals. “The young Nigerians will tell you that Nigeria has done nothing to them – Is it fair to this generation?” According to him, Nigeria is spending so much on educating doctors and nurses; hence it’s a major loss when they leave the country.

 In his keynote presentation, the president of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Dr Uche Rowland Ojinmah, said the term brain drain refers to losing a major strength, lamenting that official statistics showed that as of 2019, Nigeria’s doctors-to-patient ratio was at one to 4,900. He regretted this number has increased as the country continues to lose medical practitioners to developed countries, warning that Nigeria is in dire need of health workers. He said from 1963 to date, Nigeria has produced only 93,000 doctors; which is inadequate to cater for the general population. “The real shock comes when you know majority of physicians we are training will not remain in the country,” he said.

 Dr Ojinmah said research among health workers showed that the United K and the United States are the top two destinations for Nigerian medical doctors to seek work opportunities, with 93 per cent and 83 per cent. He said Nigerian doctors are also migrating to Middle Eastern countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman. “We are not just losing the consultants, we are losing fresh graduate doctors too,” he said.

 Currently, Nigeria has the highest number of doctors in the UK after India and Pakistan, he said, adding that India contributes the largest number of foreign doctors to the UK health sector. But unlike Nigeria, as of 2018, India achieved the WHO-recommended doctor-to-population ratio of 1:1,000. He noted that India produces 50,000 medical doctors per annum from more than 479 medical schools, with an annual capacity intake of 67,218 MBBS students at medical colleges regulated by the Medical Council of India. The NMA boss said further that in 2015, 233 Nigerian doctors moved to the UK; in 2016 the number increased to 279; in 2017 the figure was 475; in 2019, the figure rose to 852; in 2019, it jumped to 1,347; in 2020, the figure was 833 and in 2021 was put at 932.

 According to Dr Ojinmah, the General Medical Council (GMC), the body responsible for licensing and maintaining the official register of medical practitioners in the UK, reportedly licensed 200 Nigerian-trained doctors in one month – August 31 to September 30 – in 2022. While explaining the data further, he said it show that an average of three Nigerian doctors were licensed daily within June and July 2022 to work in the UK – an equivalent of 266 Nigerian doctors relocating to the UK in the space of two months.

 In his own opinion, Ejiro Eyaru, a Nigerian doctor in the UK, said Nigeria’s challenges are peculiar; just as every country has its own challenges. He said based on analysis, at least 40 doctors leave Nigeria every week; while the representative of the Population Association of Nigeria (PAN), Godwin Aidenagbon, said brain drain across all sectors has a significant impact on population dynamics. He said brain drain in the sector may have negative implications for the health of the population; Prof Oyewale Tomori, a virologist, concluded that brain drain is in every sector; not just health. He advised the government to invest more in the health sector to protect the health of the people.

• ‘Nigerians should expect a better deal’

Senator-elect Godswill Akpabio has informed President Muhammadu Buhari of his intention to contest for Senate president.

Akpabio, who stated this after meeting with the President at his official residence in the President Villa, said as President of the Senate, he would work closely with Asiwaju Bola Tinubu-led presidency to empower Nigerians, particularly the youth.

The Senator-elect said he also used the visit to thank the president for giving him the opportunity to serve as minister in his administration, adding that he presented his Certificate of Return to the number one citizen.

Asked what his programme for Nigerians would be if he becomes President of the Senate, Akpabio said ‘a lot of reforms’.

He added: “Akpabio is known as an uncommon transformer. Akpabio is known as a man who is results-oriented. Recall that when I was a governor, I brought a lot of innovations to bear, infrastructural, educational, social and otherwise, and also in terms of human empowerment. I intend to bring a lot of reforms into the Senate, in the ways and manners we do business, to assist the next administration to succeed. We will be very thorough in doing everything; we’ll bring about loyalty to the Constitution, we’ll bring about loyalty to Nigerians.

“We will tackle issues through legislations to empower Nigerians and particularly the youth. The restiveness that we are seeing across the nation, we’ll do our best to make good laws and to assist the administration to bring about policies that will empower the youths of the country.

“I made that promise even on the convention day, that being a man who used to turn boys into men and who still does, that I will like to work with the incoming president, who has also shown that example in Lagos State as a governor and thereafter as a leader of the APC in Nigeria. He has continued to turn boys into men and as the president of the country, after his swearing-in, I expect that he will continue to do so…”

Majority Leader of the House of Representatives Alhassan Doguwa has declared his intention to contest for speaker of the 10th National Assembly.

In a letter of intent addressed to members-elect, the lawmaker said he is vying for the position because of his passion for nation-building.

The lawmaker, who represents Doguwa/Tudun Wada federal constituency of Kano State, said: “The call to leadership is one laced with responsibilities and unalloyed commitment to the commonwealth of Nigerians, expressed through a unanimous ballot casting which led to your victories in your various states.

“The journey to nation-building has begun, and we are here once again to steer the ship where the collective voices of the people, whose trust has been vested in us, have been total to an admirable end.

“I use this opportunity to communicate my desire to contest for the office of the Speaker of the House. My passion for nation-building has fueled my desire to seek this office at this critical time when various divergent views of governance exist in different zones in the nation. Now is the time to align all our interests, aspirations, and trust to work together for the common good of Nigerians. At the same time, discard ethnic, geographical, religious, or political bias that could hinder our collective efforts in this representation.

“As we look forward to formulating impactful policies for the growth of our nation, I implore us all to bear in mind that all back home will see the results of our stay at the Assembly, thus the need to come together to build a nation where peace and justice shall reign.”

Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom has urged members of the National Assembly to remain vigilant and resist last minute attempts to pass a bill ‘which seeks to deprive Nigerians of their God-given lands in favour of pastoralists across the country’.

A statement yesterday by his media aide, Terver Akase, said ‘if the current administration had concentrated on tackling insecurity in the manner it has pushed for the enactment of a cattle grazing reserves law, the country would have been safer for every Nigerian’.

The statement added: “In November 2016, the Senate rejected the controversial bill seeking to establish a Grazing Management Agency which was to ensure the creation of cattle grazing areas across the country. In 2017, the Federal Government again tried to influence the passage of a bill adorning the same regalia, which was called National Grazing Routes and Reserves Bill. That bill was also rejected following the alarm raised by some patriotic Nigerians.

“The government subsequently introduced the National Water Resources Bill, which also came with the objective of bringing all water sources (surface and underground) and river banks under the control of the Federal Government, a move that attracted an avalanche of condemnations from Nigerians.

“It again introduced Ruga, Cattle Colonies and several other programmes, all aimed at creating settlements for pastoralists in all the states of the federation. It is on record that Governor Samuel Ortom was the first to speak against the draconian bills.

“In August 2021, President Muhammadu Buhari approved recommendations of a committee to review ‘with dispatch, 368 grazing sites, across 25 states in the country, and to determine the levels of encroachment’. Again, Benue and other states rejected the presidential approval and the idea eventually lost steam.

“We understand that those bent on taking over the ancestral lands of Nigerians and give to pastoralists are looking for the opportunity to hastily pass the bill, which they have now renamed National Grazing Reserves Council Bill. The proposed law has been in the National Assembly after it was reintroduced, and its sponsors finding the right moment to have it passed.

“If passed, the law will establish a council with the powers to take over land in any part of the country for grazing reserves and pay ‘compensation’ to the owner(s). Beneficiaries of the usurped land will be pastoralists whose animals will enjoy unfettered access to the land.

“The National Grazing Reserves Council Bill is not only a violation of the Constitution and the Land Use Act, but also a fang of impunity, subjugation and a deeply rooted conquest agenda against Nigerians. The bill is a direct land-grabbing legislation designed to make Nigerians slaves in their country while serving the selfish and parochial interests of herdsmen.

“Governor Ortom urges members of the National Assembly to act as true representatives of the people for the sake of posterity, and to remember that the future and unity of this nation lies in their hands. He encourages the lawmakers to remain dogged in their rejection of the bill, and any other surreptitious attempt to mock Nigerians who have fallen victim to the occupation agenda. Governor Ortom’s stand on national issues is borne out of patriotism and not for any personal agenda or gain; he believes in fairness, justice and equity.

Minister of Labour and Employment Chris Ngige has berated the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), saying some of their demands were absurd.

The NARD, at the weekend, urged the Federal Government to compel a member of the House of Representatives to withdraw a bill which would prohibit doctors trained in Nigeria from travelling until after five years. The doctors also advocated for a 200 per cent pay rise following the implementation of a 40 per cent pay rise for civil servants.

But speaking on a television show yesterday, the minister wondered why the doctors would include the withdrawal of a private member bill as a condition for going on strike.

He said: “How can the government tell a member who has done a private member bill to withdraw the bill? And these doctors gave this as a condition for going on strike. That’s absurd.”

Ngige also said the government has done a lot to train doctors in the country. He told ‘those not satisfied with the contributions of the Federal Government to seek greener pastures outside’.

He added: “Doctors abroad go on strike for three, four days, but in Nigeria, you will see a strike of nine months and they come back and ask the government to pay them when they go on strike. It has been happening before, but last year I said no because we have these laws. If we don’t need these laws, we will go to the National Assembly to repeal them.

“If you go on strike you will not receive any pay. Your union should pay you. That is the law. It is an ILO’s Principle of Work. It is in the Trade Dispute Act section 43 (1), (2). Section 43 (2) says ‘when you are on strike, apart from that pay (withheld salaries) the period should not count as part of your pensionable period at work. It is there. I have not applied that leg of the law. Maybe the next Labour Minister or government will apply it. I am just trying to show a human face.

“Since 2016 I have not applied that section of the law. I applied it once in 2018 with the health workers. For four months they were on strike and we paid them. They continued the strike and we withheld the money. That is why we have some sanity in the health sector. We have given the NARD everything they want, including their residency training program fund, we appropriated it and we are paying them even while in training. It is not done anywhere in the world where you pay their examination fees, transportation, and other allowances, including full salary.

“But if they decide the government has not done enough, they have the option to go abroad. It is left for the Federal Ministry of Health to figure out what they can do. The sense of entitlement is too much in this country. Like I said earlier you obey the law you look odd. You apply the law, you look odd or you are a wicked man. I don’t have any apology for what I have done in the management of trade disputes in this country, no single one.”

• Party chief vows to continue court case against Adamu, Omisore

The crisis of confidence in the National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is yet abated as the National Vice Chairman (North West), Dr. Salihu Moh. Lukman, has vowed to continue the legal battle until the committee convenes the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting.

National Legal Adviser Ahmad El-Marzuq, in an April 24 memo to the National Chairman Abdullahi Adamu, recommended Lukman’s expulsion for externalising the crisis in the party by suing Adamu and the National Secretary, Iyiola Omisore, for alleged breach of the party constitution.

El-Marzuq had recommended disciplinary action against Lukman by invoking Article 21.5 of the APC constitution.

But in a two-page letter dated May 1 to the National Chairman, Lukman maintained that only the NEC, and not NWC, can expel any party officer.

The Zonal Chairman also insisted on pursuing his suit up to the apex court, maintaining that he has not committed any anti-party offence by approaching the court when all steps taken in the past failed to yield the desired result.

He hoped that El-Marzuq’s memo will be formally presented at Wednesday’s NWC meeting to enable the committee consider recommendations therein.

Faulting the legal adviser’s recommendation for expulsion, Lukman argued that Article 21.3(i) of the APC constitution confers the power of membership expulsion on only the NEC, and not another organ of the party.

He added: “While noting that the issues raised in the memo are a response to the suit I filed in the Federal High Court (Abuja Judicial Division), I hope the memo will be presented to the National Working Committee (NWC) meeting of May 3. In that case, the substantive issue will be the consideration of recommendations for disciplinary measures against me, which may require invoking Article 21.5 of the APC Constitution.

“I want to state that Article 21.3(i) of the APC Constitution explicitly mandated only the executive committee as the organ assigned the responsibility for disciplinary action for ‘a complaint by any party member against a public office holder, elected or appointed, or another member, or against a party organ or officer of the party, shall be submitted to the Executive Committee of that party at all levels concerned, which shall not later than seven days of the receipt of the complaint, appoint a fact-finding or disciplinary committee to examine the matter’.

“With this provision, my expectation will be for the NWC to consider the memo and, if adopted, refer the recommendations for onward transmission to NEC. In this case, the NWC will then act as the complainant. There is nowhere in the APC constitution where the NWC is given the power to discipline any party member. I have already forwarded the memo to my legal team for further legal action.”

Lukman also insisted on continuing his case in court, in his letter copied to President Muhammadu Buhari, President-elect Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Chairman of the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF) and all NWC members.