The Brain Drain Challenge!
First, there is a fundamental need to refocus the nation’s information mindset from the current standard of “WHO YOU KNOW” to “WHAT YOU KNOW!” In order words, it’s time to start to pay homage to ‘knowledge’ (technology) than to (individual)

Wealth – Dr. Pius Okigbo’s wisdom on building a knowledge-based society refers.


The central issue is “Do we want to compete with the rest of the world”? I am sure there are compelling reasons especially for Nigeria to compete. This may not be possible without re-engineering our entire environment, infrastructure, education, work process and livelihood into information-systems-driven high technology economy. Issues of technology development are indeed issues of human resource development – which inevitably leads to the ‘development and growth’ or the ‘under-development and poverty’ of nations. Man therefore (especially the youths) becomes the prime and most essential focus for national development. Today, nations who qualify to be called ‘developed’ are indeed those who have developed great passion for knowledge and human resource development.

Sharing Emeagwali’s thought on “Technology as a Tool for Integrating Africa into the 21st Century Global Economy” - these are extracts of his views on how Africa can use knowledge to compete with the rest of the world (source & authorization to use this material: Philip Emeagwali):

BBC Network Africa: What can Technology do for Africa in the new millennium?

EMEAGWALI: “A few millennia ago, Africa were the first to enter the Agricultural Age. The first to build in stones. The first to pioneer in technology. Today, African is behind every continent in technology and as a result is the poorest continent.

Technological knowledge can be used to create wealth and alleviate poverty in Africa.Kwame Nkrumah also said; “Socialism without science is void” Therefore, we cannot reduce poverty in Africa without scientists and engineers.

The lack of technological knowledge is the reason for the wide disparity between the rich

and the poor nations. The 500 richest people on Earth have more money than the 3 billion poorest people on Earth. Because the rich nations are getting richer much faster than the poor nations, the gap between the rich and poor will continue to widen. This gap

can be closed if African nations are focus on developing an economy that is knowledge and technology based, instead of one that is based on the export of natural resources.”

NEW ECONOMY:

Creating a new organization of work, governance, and business pre-supposes that we need a ‘New Knowledge-driven Economy’ for Nigeria – where science & technology and in particular, information and communications technologies will be the driving engine. We need a new government image with people-first obligations. This may not be

easily realized or possible without re-structuring the ministries as productive agents of governance. Who says we cannot or must not establish a Federal Ministry of Knowledge?

Selected studies have revealed that over 30 per cent of Nigeria’s human resource talents - especially in the core sciences – fostered at great expense to the state – migrate abroad annually! This translates to free allocation of about 30% of the national budget over the past three decades to benefit other nations. In gross development terms, it represents a significant factor of the nation’s economic, political and social instability experience and history – that has continued to challenge all of us.

Why should Nigeria choose and invest on knowledge (technology pursuit) of the Information Age, instead of the perpetual dependency on the export of only crude oil? In Search of an answer; let us explore importance of technology in oil exploration, extraction and export. What is the content and role of knowledge (technology) in the black gold business? In order words, what percentage of the entire value of the petroleum enterprise does knowledge constitute? Who supplies and controls the technology (knowledge)? Are there alternative sources to this knowledge or expertise? Can part or all of this knowledge be supplied by Nigerians all over the world at the current value paid to others? Finally, where will the equation of “we have the oil resources” (divided by) “they have the knowledge to find and extract our oil resources” lead us? No where?You damn right! The simple truth is that by the time our natural resources finishes, we will still be left with little or no knowledge or technology value. Whereas, those who currently supply us knowledge (technology) will continue to build on and upgrade what

they have to continue the complex journey of life survival. In the final analysis, we would have lost or sold our resources for a quarter of its real value, and would have lost abundant time needed to incubate knowledge and technology – ’simply because we myopically decided to chase shadows, when a kindergarten should have a clear view

and understanding of a ‘mirage’.

Jump-Out Vs Jump-In (Turning the Brain Drain into

culled from www.techtrendsng.com

NIGERIA YOUR TREASURE:

Today, if man or history challenges us to produce our treasure house (our legacy?) what will it be? The ‘Accumulated Hydrocarbons, the ‘Rain Forest’ or ‘Human Resources’? None of the above! Truth is, we are yet to consciously recognize, appreciate, collect document and preserve nationalknowledge - which is and remains the greatest treasure for any conscious nation with an ambitious vision. Knowledge is the ultimate legacy of man’s existence on the planet


Earth. We don’t have to visit the American Library of Congress (the largest empire of human knowledge to date) to appreciate this fact of history. The above statement is now being validated by the revelations of 21st century Information Age. This makes it necessary to start to ask such patient questions as: what is the gross asset value of

Nigeria’s human resources abroad – analyzed in terms of scientific knowledge, expertise, skill and practical experience? How best can we pool all these quantum knowledge together to benefit Nigeria (Africa)?

One fundamental and inescapable truth is that we will need abundant knowledge, commitment, resources and energy to become a relevant player in the global Technology development domain – especially in the IT & CT domain. One clear way of not attaining the goals of this very fundamental national mission is “to neglect the importance of the

largest concentration of the knowledge reservoir of Nigerians in Diaspora”. It will amount to the greatest development tragedy that can befall any nation. Presently these warehouses of knowledge are wasting away – really wasting away, just like the many million tons of ripe tomatoes produced by the remarkable talent of our rural farmers, but for lack of national distribution network of our farm produce. How long can we afford to continue to exist like this as a nation – a nation afraid of knowledge? Or a nation that hates knowledge, science and technology?

At best, what the national pretence of contact or ignorance is better than knowledge has done for us as a nation is to create ‘an artificial economy’ – this monster that stirs us daily in the face, strangulating our dream, labour and creativity into what we now know as “a capital merchandizing environment’, where bags of money and finished goods and services change hands. Amidst this state of apathy is the equation of run-away brain drain that we must now start to address with all seriousness and resolve to turn around its impact.

It stands to reason that a nation of more than 120 million people that funds the development of Science and Technology with less than 100,000 US dollars (N1 billion) annually but can afford to place a page advert of the same value on Wall Street Journal

and/or budget to build a stadium at an estimated cost of N30 billion - can only be classified among nations that hate knowledge, science and technology. This negative attitude to technology development and knowledge incubation must change.

Read more on this article by Chris Uwaje at http://techtrendsng.com/?p=172#more-172