HARNESSING AFRICA’S MIGRANT HUMAN RESOURCES FOR DEVELOPMENT- PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS.

For many years, Africa has been lamenting the massive and continuous loss of its skilled labor and intellectuals to countries in other continents, mostly to Europe and North America. Brain drain has been partly blamed for Africa’s elusive quest for economic development but efforts to reverse or at least minimize this worrying trend seldom goes beyond the payment of lip-service. Governments, educational institutions, research agencies and concerned individuals regularly bewail, research, discuss, and debate brain drain but do not seem to be either proposing models and measures or, taking the necessary steps, to curb it. It for this reason that I have decided to discuss the issue and propose some measures for the amelioration of this persistent problem.  

          To begin with, brain drain is not just an “African Problem” requiring “African Solutions”. It is a global problem that requires a consented, global effort to curb. While Africa loses its learned and skilled manpower and a valuable tax base, recipient countries are faced with stiffer competition for jobs and increased pressures on social amenities. Given that Africa needs all the productive manpower it can get to spur development, it is imperative for Africa to lead the search for ways to minimize brain drain. Besides the vast majority of Africa’s migrants stay within the continent. However, the unregulated flow of intellectual expertise and skilled labor is robbing the African continent of the human resources needed to promote development and spur better living conditions. The human resources of African countries are attracted by the appealing offers of funding, higher wages and improved living conditions to migrate to other continents denying their native countries and continent the benefits that come with their knowledge, expertise and skill. Educational scholarships offered by schools in more developed countries have become key sources of brain drain with thousands of African students flooding into the education systems of granting countries each year. Many of these student opt to remain in their host countries even after their education rather than return to help build Africa. Like many other Africans, I lament this trend but my real pain is in why Africa is doing so little about this trend. In my opinion, the key factors supporting brain drain are endogenous; they are the result of the failures of African stakeholders to act in the interest of the continent and its component countries.

THE PROBLEM

Decades of economic mismanagement, corruption and bad governance and scarce human capital development opportunities have reduced Africa to a producer of academic raw materials which can be extracted, transferred to foreign lands and processed for the benefit of their new societies. Africa fails to realize and harness the extensive potentials of its population and as such the frustrations of limited opportunities combine with the attractive packages promised by developed countries to support brain drain. While creativity, problem solving and opportunities for capability enhancement drive economic success in developed countries, the same cannot be said for much of Africa. African economies appear to me to be driven (into a ditch) by two unreliable, potentially destructive factors; an overreliance on the production of raw materials and divisive partisan politics. Limited opportunities and misplaced priorities have doomed African development to a snail’s pace. Invaluable human capital and talent either goes to waste or is underdeveloped because the society offers limited opportunities for nurturing such potential. The result is that our people migrate to other continents in search of better opportunities.

          On one hand, Africa is almost completely dependent on agriculture with about 70% of the continent employed in the sector. However, productivity in the agriculture sector is far lower than that of Europe and North America both of which have less than 10% of their respective populations employed in the sector. While agriculture in Africa is oversubscribed, many still use rudimentary agricultural methods to produce raw materials for sale. In the long run, much of these raw produce are exported to other continents as cheap prices where they are then processed into finish goods only for us to import them back into our countries at much higher prices. The huge trade deficits that this creates take years and billions to finance, money that could be valuable capital for domestic industries and for infrastructural development. Without the needed capital and infrastructural base, local industries lose to the better resourced foreign, multinational corporations which export much of their profits out of Africa and poach our skilled labor. 

          On the other hand, divisive partisan politics (contaminated by corruption, greed and the biases of ethnic and religious affiliations) militate against the search for lasting solutions to Africa’s development problems. Our politicians seem to live for themselves and their families and cohorts, not giving a “hoot” what our needs are for as long as they can satisfy theirs. Support and capital for local business is barely there and governments are doing little to meet deficits in the supply of basic infrastructure like good roads and energy supply. This increases the cost of doing business in Africa, limits the production and employment capacities of businesses and makes migration to “greener pastures” more appealing. With our failure to identify, support, harness and retain our best minds, we lose many of them to other continents which are ready to pay for their expertise. We do not make the best of our human resources so we are losing it to those who do. The little we have is easily taken from us because we do little to protect and retain it.

THE SOLUTIONS

          In order to curb brain drain, Africa must take bold and committed measures to overhaul its national institutions and we the people must change our attitude to work, human resource development and resource distribution. Based on the fact that it is in Africa’s best interest to combat brain drain (given its adverse effects on the continent’s development), we ought to put measures in place to, first of all, reduce the rate of brain drain in the long term. This will require that we make our national institutions more resilient and competent enough to enforce laws and deliver on their assigned and expected functions with utmost diligence and reliability. The bulk of Africa’s problems are because our laws, institutions and personnel do not work at their best as they should and combating brain drain is no different. Ultimately, African governments have to options in the fight against brain drain; CARROTS OR STICKS i.e. persuasion/motivation or force. For the sake of the rights and freedoms of the people, African governments cannot force people to remain in their countries against their will so the use of “sticks” is, without question, eliminated. We are then left with “carrots”, my proposed option.

          Scientific research has found humans to be responsive to stimuli, be it physical, mental or emotional. As humans we seek to maximize pleasure and minimize pain and are more likely to exhibit behavior that elicits reward. Using these findings, I propose that African governments use persuasive and motivational measures to reduce brain drain and retain the expertise of Africans while attracting Africans in the diaspora for the same agenda. Here are a few ways this can be done.

          First, African governments must embrace the potential, positive changes that come with the expanding literacy rates and expanded skills set of the African population. African governments ought to embrace the continents growing middle class, skilled labor and elite and see them as vital as partners in development rather than as an opposition to their claim on political power. Africa is overrun by populist governments which feel threatened by the growing middle class, elites and local entrepreneurs and business. Rather than incorporating these classes into governance and development, many African governments try to either starve these groups of opportunities or corrupt and co-opt them into a spoils-system as a way of keeping them under control. The result is that the domestic private sector is which is meant to be an engine of growth suffers from limited capital, low productivity and government interference and cannot contribute much to development.  It is about time governments of African states become more accepting of the diverse views of the people, encourage and promote meaningful debate and competition and welcome contributions from across the political spectrum for the benefit of their respective countries. I believe this will give the growing middle class the opportunity to effect positive changes in government and spearhead the transformations that will propel Africa into economic and political development.

Moreover, the contributions of Africans outside the African continent does not have to strictly come from their physical presence on the continent. As an old Ghanaian adage goes “If the antelope cannot go to the festival, its skin can go in its stead”- if migrant Africans cannot be physically present on the continent, they can still contribute to its development through mentoring, political debate/discussion, education and most importantly, remittances. According to data from the World Bank Development Finance Database, remittances to Africa in 2010 was about US$45 billion. Other studies have indicated that the farther people travel, the more remittances they make to their home countries. This means Africans abroad are a major source of funds for family upkeep, human capital development and business financing back home injecting billions of dollars into their native economies each year. With the rising African population worldwide, this trend is only set to grow. This is an added reason why African governments ought to be more appreciative and accommodating of their migrant nationals and harness the potentials and benefits they bring. Think about it, popular African foods in America and Europe are so because there are large African populations that patronize these foods abroad. Ghana’s “Azonto Music” craze and Nigeria’s afro-pop music have caught on in the UK and elsewhere largely because of the huge migrant African populations there, creating a new kind of export and increasing the flow of remittances back home.

          Africans must unite to combat the cancer of corruption that robs the continent of its potential, human capital and resources. Because of corruption, African governments are unable and unwilling to deliver the needed services to their people. Much of the resources earmarked for infrastructural projects and the expansion of opportunities end up in the personal accounts of selfish, corrupt politicians and other corrupt individuals while development opportunities remain scarce. Domestic industries either fail or operate below capacity due to the lack of capital and basic infrastructure like energy while contracts are awarded to foreign companies or to corrupt local businesses in exchange for kickbacks and political favors. The corrupted African society makes it very difficult for individuals to develop themselves and earn good, honest living. To the concerned African, this can be really frustrating and could be the basis for migration elsewhere. There is the need, therefore, for the public to oppose corruption and impress on governments to tackle the issue in all sectors of the economy to promote the supply and provision of basic amenities so as to promote local industries, stimulate private investment and boost public confidence in their local economies. A transparent, responsive government is more likely to engender a politically and economically stable environment in which people will be more willing and more able to apply their skills, knowledge and expertise towards earning an honest living and contributing to Africa’s development. 

          Furthermore, Africans (especially those native to the continent) ought to appreciate the contribution of the society in nurturing them. Whatever the society one was born, raised or grew up in, there are certain environmental and social factors that add to your strengths. We Africans ought to appreciate these contributions more and make a commitment to give back to the societies and communities we are from, either to correct the wrongs that persist in these societies or to help strengthen and expand the positives therein. Africans are best placed to effect positives changes in Africa because we best understand and appreciate the dynamisms of our continent and have a vested interest in its development. It is about time we transformed our lip services into positive, consistent and productive action.

          Africa has a vast network of skilled labor, learned minds and strong manpower base that can (and must) be harnessed for the development of the continent. If we are failing to do so, it is not only because we are losing out to the enticing and appealing attractions of other continents, but also because we have not put our home continent in a position to nurture and keep these brains we lament over. As rational humans, we are more likely to choose the path that offers the greatest chance at maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain, and as it stands, Africa, compared to other continents, has limited opportunities for achievement. The onus therefore lies on all Africans and concerned global citizens to help Africa overhaul its social structure and political and economic institutions to make it more accommodating and attractive to the people and to elicit the kind of committed support that any purposeful, self-helping continent deserves.