In 1985, I came to the US to study architecture with plans to leave and return to Nigeria. I am still here. Since 2001, I have periodically reconsidered why I am still here and the last three years even more so. Between terrorism and the financial crisis, most Africans, even from war-ridden countries are reconsidering. One friend, a Guinea trader, Bashiru keeps talking my ear off on how bad things are in the US as he travels to sell his merchandise in the south, west and eastern portions of the country. Last week, he updated me on how things were in Washington D.C. and proclaimed: "it is time to leave, no money is here".

African immigration to America after the the trans-Atlantic slave trade was about 35,355 in 1960 and has gone to almost 1.5 million in 2009. The top countries of origin for African immigrants are Nigeria, Ethiopia, Egypt, Ghana, and Kenya; and one-third of all African immigrants reside in New York, California, Texas, and Maryland. These statistics are in sharp contrast to the mood and tone of some Africans in the U.S.

Are African leaving the U.S.? Yes, some are but not that many. How do I know this? I can look at the numbers from Nigeria. According to the Millennium Information Source, Nigerians in the diaspora are responsible for the largest remittance inflows into sub-Saharan Africa -- close to $10 billion in 2008. This amount is up from $1.5 billion in 1998, according to the World Bank. Nigeria's share of all remittances rose from 1.3 percent in 1998 to 2.4 percent in 2008. This tells me if Nigerians are still here sending money home and the amounts have increased, then they are not leaving to return home.

In 1980, 37% of all Africans coming to the U.S. were Nigeria and by 2009, this number dropped to 19%. Yet, the overall African population has not dropped, it is still rising. In 2010, Nigeria lost its lead to Ethopia, and there are now the leader in legal immigrants. In a new report by the Migration Policy Organization despite the 2008 economic downturn, African migration has not subsided noticeably.

The recent BBC article entitled African migrants abandon the American dream is telling some truths on why some Africans are leaving the US. An article in Time Magazine is probably more inline with hat is happening to Africans - The Repatriate Generation signals the groups of Africans returning home -- African Executives. The reasons are obvious -- the economic downturn in the US and the economic opportunity in Africa is making them return home.

In the last five years, a range of my friends, who ran companies and were in the executive positions have been leaving. A good number of them have returned to Nigeria to earn exactly what they did here and almost twice as much in Nigeria. Earlier this year, I sat with a group of them to talk about what they were experiencing. The words and expressions: This is my country, I am not working as hard as the U.S., and Life is good here kept coming up.

Africans are leaving the U.S., not in waves, but strategically to return to create their own opportunities in Africa. Africa is not easy and it is not every African who returns home that finds things work out. Another Nigerian group I sat with in April could list a range of issues: no electricity, safety issues and something even more surprising, loneliness and difference. As one Nigerian said, "I am American and Nigerian because I spent 15 years away from home, I am not Nigerian as I used to be, it's a lonely path, so I try to find others who have lived overseas like I have. We understand each other better."

Africans are homeward bound because the west has changed. The grind to work too hard and ridiculous hours has made Africans rethink staying stateside. The need for more opportunity is also key to the shift. There can be more opportunity and a better quality of life for the educated Africans in Africa. Returning home is a choice, as is living in the US. Each has its issues.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/atim-oton/african-migration_b_1067426.html?ref=world&ir=World

Yes Nigeria is on the rise and America is falling. SO setting up businesses in Nigeria can be profitable if you can work through the challenges.

Lol I dunno about your first sentence. Latter is true though. There is opportunity everywhere in the world if you are willing to work at it.

This article makes a good point, about how it can be difficult for those who go abroad intending to stay only a short period of time to return.

Both for financial/career reasons (can be challenging to leave a great job abroad and return to Nigeria), and for social ones (the loneliness she alluded to.)

Boko Haram is messing everything up but there are opportunities in the agriculture, tourism, manufacturing, and sports sectors.

It depends on what you do.  If you set up a factory at the Lekki free trade zone  or set up a good farm with capital intensive equipment  then you can make good money.  The government just needs to give us power and roads.

Don't the Nigerians returning home come back to family and old friends?

Go back to Nigeria for what?

Eyes don open. . . .

[flash=450,350]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ic7dggkZBSE[/flash]

Nigerian expats repatriating to take advantage of opportunities in Nigeria
and Africa's growth despite global economic downturn.

A guy writes of his decision to move back to Nigeria(probably out of guilt), and he also assumes every other Nigerian out there is doing exactly the same? What a crock of bull? Na so we don dey read since year 2000. Every other Nigerian you meet claims Nigerians are moving back, yet Census numbers don't indicate this trend -- matter of fact, between 2000 and 2010 the population of Africans in America has more than multiplied. When people go learn to move back, and not pretend everyone else has to be made to do same?

igbo2011:

Don't the Nigerians returning home come back to family and old friends?

Family and friends you've not really lived around say for 15 years? It can be difficult, I would imagine.

ekt_bear:

This article makes a good point, about how it can be difficult for those who go abroad intending to stay only a short period of time to return.

Both for financial/career reasons (can be challenging to leave a great job abroad and return to Nigeria), and for social ones (the loneliness she alluded to.)

it's a great post. . . . .he had some raw statistics to back it up as well.

i know a lot of immigrants left the u-s in 2009 at the peak of the recession. i don't have the stats again but the figure was staggering.
in fairness, majority of those people would have scampered back because of their experience when they got back to africa.
it's difficult trying to relocate. there's a huge gulf between the 2 worlds. unless one has a good back-up plan and capital to start a profitable business, going back can be suicidal.

I suppose in the current economic clime, it would be undesirable for unemployed Africans in the US to remain, when does skills and qualification could be put to good use in Nigeria like our dear Aunty Okonjo Iweala.etc

Nyway, the US is still very relevant as these migrating Africans could yet be seasonal and would return back to the U.S.

Bliss4Lyfe:

I suppose in the current economic clime, it would be undesirable for unemployed Africans in the US to remain, when does skills and qualification could be put to good use in Nigeria like our dear Aunty Okonjo Iweala.etc

Nyway, the US is still very relevant as these migrating Africans could yet be seasonal and would to return back to the U.S.

Where exactly is the employment in Africa that immigrants should be running back home for?

Bliss4Lyfe:

I suppose in the current economic clime, it would be undesirable for unemployed Africans in the US to remain, when does skills and qualification could be put to good use in Nigeria like our dear Aunty Okonjo Iweala.etc

Nyway, the US is still very relevant as these migrating Africans could yet be seasonal and would return back to the U.S.

Where?? The current economic clime is undesirable, and that in Nigeria is? 

I am not against people moving back to Nigeria . . . simply think it is selfish to pretend that gloom befalls those who do not.

Ileke-IdI:

Where exactly is the employment in Africa that immigrants should be running back home for?

There are jobs in the banking sector and various gov ministries and parastatals, besides in a developing economy the opportunities for a good entrepreneur to reap Super profit are enormous.

Many could be going back to set up business and take advantage of the lower tax rate and population.

Bliss4Lyfe:

There are jobs in the banking sector and various gov ministries and parastatals, besides in a developing economy the opportunities for a good entrepreneur to reap Super profit are enormous.

Many could be going back to set up business and take advantage of the lower tax rate and population.  

How many Africans are in those sectors you just mentioned?

Bliss4Lyfe:

There are jobs in the banking sector and various gov ministries and parastatals, besides in a developing economy the opportunities for a good entrepreneur to reap Super profit are enormous.

Many could be going back to set up business and take advantage of the lower tax rate and population.  

Do you have any real support for this claim? I mean only a couple of weeks ago, the same banking sector layed off hundreds of employees, and here we are saying there are jobs in the banking sector?

Kobojunkie:

Do you have any real support for this claim? I mean only a couple of weeks ago, the same banking sector layed off hundreds of employees, and here we are saying there are jobs in the banking sector?

Ileke-IdI:

How many Africans are in those  sectors you just mentioned?

Questions? Had a long day and am off 

Kobojunkie:

Do you have any real support for this claim? I mean only a couple of weeks ago, the same banking sector layed off hundreds of employees, and here we are saying there are jobs in the banking sector?

they laid off hundreds of employees to take in more qualified employees.
in short, hundreds of new employees would have been given jobs to replace the archaic ones who either don't have the necessary skills or were sacked for forged certificates.

coogar:

they laid off hundreds of employees to take in more qualified employees.
in short, hundreds of new employees would have been given jobs to replace the archaic ones who either don't have the necessary skills or were sacked for forged certificates.

I am gonna ask you the very same question I asked the other person. Is it possible for you to provide us with back up evidence for the claim you made above? That is all we need.

Kobojunkie:

I am gonna ask you the very same question I asked the other person. Is it possible for you to provide us with back up evidence for the claim you made above? That is all we need.

i got that info from word of mouth. not too reliable but the source has nothing to gain from lying.

his bank had employed hundreds of fresh graduates as marketers - those young peops who chase up investors up and down the city and are expected to meet a required target per month. after the naija's banking system suffered hiccups, the bank had to tidy up to reduce costs. it was then they streamlined their staff, kicked out the non-performers, found out some used fake certificates and so on and forth. in all, his bank kicked out about 900 alone in the 40 or so branches in south west nigeria.

coogar:

i got that info from word of mouth. not too reliable but the source has nothing to gain from lying.

his bank had employed hundreds of fresh graduates as marketers - those young peops who chase up investors up and down the city and are expected to meet a required target per month. after the naija's banking system suffered hiccups, the bank had to tidy up to reduce costs. it was then they streamlined their staff, kicked out the non-performers, found out some used fake certificates and so on and forth. in all, his bank kicked out about 900 alone in the 40 or so branches in south west nigeria.

. . . . Word of mouth ke? In Nigeria? Abi my eyes dey sleep so? In this day and age, we dey still accept word of mouth from Nigerians? No offence, but we request RELIABLE SOURCES/ not Palmwine joint gossip. lol

Just so you know, what you have above is addressed here

http://www.businessdayonline.com/NG/index.php/oil/26142-ncdmb-warns-iocs-against-incessant-layoff-of-nigerians-

But here reports coming in from Nigeria in the last couple of weeks/days

http://layofftracker..com/2011/10/layoffs-imminent-at-nigerian-national.html

http://allafrica.com/stories/201111010552.html

Quoting a survey, Jamodu said capacity utilisation of the sector declined from 70.1 per cent in 1980 to 45 per cent in 2010, while its employment rate declined from 2,752,832 in 2001 to 966,395 in 2010.

"Its contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) declined from 9.5 per cent in 1975 to 4.41 per cent in 2010," he said.

[size=13pt]2m Jobs Loss: MAN Blames Power, Policy Inconsistency[/size]

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/2m-jobs-loss-man-blames-power-policy-inconsistency/101766/

Is this the picture of the economy that is better than the economy in the west? Really?

Kobojunkie:

. . . . Word of mouth ke? In Nigeria? Abi my eyes dey sleep so? In this day and age, we dey still accept word of mouth from Nigerians? No offence, but we request RELIABLE SOURCES/ not Palmwine joint gossip. lol

except that one of the url link you posted was also word of mouth. remove the log in your eye before you dare attempt to take out the speck in mine.

Just so you know, what you have above is addressed here
http://www.businessdayonline.com/NG/index.php/oil/26142-ncdmb-warns-iocs-against-incessant-layoff-of-nigerians-

this is exactly my stance in my previous comment. people are being laid off for more qualified employees. don't just read the headlines next time, read the article. the article stated that nigerians are being kicked out in the oil/gas industry to be replaed by expatriates(many of which would be nigerians in the diaspora). the employer seeks for skills not because the company got shut down! the exact number of people that got sacked were replaced!

But here reports coming in from Nigeria in the last couple of weeks/days
http://layofftracker..com/2011/10/layoffs-imminent-at-nigerian-national.html

this is a pub gist. peruse the article.
no quote was made by nnpc that they would lay people off. the blogger said "heads may roll. . . ."
it's not a factual statement. just a figment of his imagination. he maybe the right in the end just like my banker friend is right.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201111010552.html
[size=13pt]2m Jobs Loss: MAN Blames Power, Policy Inconsistency[/size]

this is the only relevant link you got that actually fits the bill.
that being said, it does not disprove my stance(i must add again). i never said the people abroad should move back home - i only said there's a high employment turnover in nigeria as employers crave for employees with more skills.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/2m-jobs-loss-man-blames-power-policy-inconsistency/101766/
Is this the picture of the economy that is better than the economy in the west? Really?

see above!

coogar:

except that one of the url link you posted was also word of mouth. remove the log in your eye before you dare attempt to take out the speck in mine.

Correction : The article on 
http://layofftracker..com/2011/10/layoffs-imminent-at-nigerian-national.html is actually culled from
http://www.businessdayonline.com/NG/index.php/news/76-hot-topic/28788-senior-layoffs-imminent-at-nnpc-over-audit-report
You need to read to scroll down a bit on that page.

coogar:

this is exactly my stance in my previous comment. people are being laid off for more qualified employees. don't just read the headlines next time, read the article. the article stated that nigerians are being kicked out in the oil/gas industry to be replaed by expatriates(many of which would be nigerians in the diaspora). the employer seeks for skills not because the company got shut down! the exact number of people that got sacked were replaced!

Again, the article DOES NOT support the claim you made. It posits that is an excuse being used to layoff people without following due process.  Look closer

“Due process must be followed before any Nigerian would be sacked,” the group said.
Ernest Nwapa, executive secretary of NCDMB, who reiterated this commitment while receiving a delegation of Jiangsu Yulong Steel Pipe Company of China in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, said the Board is implementing the provisions of the Nigerian Content Act to build capacity in the industry, create and retain jobs for Nigerians especially in the oil and gas industry.

The feedback from the Board’s engagement with stakeholders, reports from staff in the operating companies and [size=13pt]complaints from the unions in the industry indicate that operating companies have begun to take trained and experienced Nigerians off jobs[/size] and replace them with expatriates.

Any plan to relieve Nigerians of their jobs without due recourse to existing laws in the industry would be contrary to the spirit and letters of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act. 
According investigations, “a dangerous trend is emerging in the industry regarding human capacity utilisation by the major operators.

coogar:

this is a pub gist. peruse the article.
no quote was made by nnpc that they would lay people off. the blogger said "heads may roll. . . ."
it's not a factual statement. just a figment of his imagination. he maybe the right in the end just like my banker friend is right.

I am sorry but now I have even more serious doubts that you even read the article. The blogger literally posted no comments on that as the whole post came from a businessweek article, where recommendations are made and Okonjo Iweala is quoted on there.

coogar:

this is the only relevant link you got that actually fits the bill.
that being said, it does not disprove my stance(i must add again). i never said the people abroad should move back home - i only said there's a high employment turnover in nigeria as employers crave for employees with more skills.

see above!

huh? 

Kobojunkie:

Correction : The article on 
http://layofftracker..com/2011/10/layoffs-imminent-at-nigerian-national.html is actually culled from
http://www.businessdayonline.com/NG/index.php/news/76-hot-topic/28788-senior-layoffs-imminent-at-nnpc-over-audit-report
You need to read to scroll down a bit on that page.

still the same garbage. media sensationalism.

heads may roll at nnpc because of an imminent auditing. nnpc themselves have not come out to say heads are rolling.
this is mere speculation. i expect you by now to know the wheat of a gist and the chaff.
besides, the heads have not rolled yet.

Again, the article DOES NOT support the claim you made. It posits that is an excuse being used to layoff people without following due process.  Look closer

it supports it to the t.
with new solutions coming out in heaps and bounds, skills reign supreme over experience.
expatriates could be any nationality including nigerians based abroad. the jobs didn't simply disappear, only the personnel changed.

I am sorry but now I have even more serious doubts that you even read the article. The blogger literally posted no comments on that as the whole post came from a businessweek article, where recommendations are made and Okonjo Iweala is quoted on there.
huh? 

okonjo iweala is not a spokesman for nnpc.
i am not even sure the 2 events are linked. she's given an audit report and the article simply speculated that heads may roll if the report exposes the mismanagement of trillions of naira. it's mere speculation. nnpc themselves have not come out to say they are investigating any fraud. and even if there's fraud and people get sacked, the roles won't disappear. new employees would take the roles left by the rogues.

there's a difference between companies shutting down with the jobs disappearing and people getting sacked(where the seat is only empty for someone else to fill). a cursory glance at guardian newspaper on tuesday would prove to you there are thousands of vacancies in nigeria everyday.
of course, it's the employer's market considering the fact that the unemployment level is staggering.

OK then !