Opinion - Nigeria's Genocide On Brainpower By Nnaziri Ihejirika
"That the practitioners of science and technology in Nigeria don’t have a ready outlet for their ideas, inventions and designs is nothi...
http://www.africaeagle.com/2014/08/opinion-nigerias-genocide-on-brainpower.html
"That the practitioners of science and technology in Nigeria don’t have a ready outlet for their ideas, inventions and designs is nothing short of a crime by the country against its citizens."
A few weeks ago, I met up with my younger sister in Toronto and as is our usual habit, we had a lengthy and all-encompassing discussion on a variety of topics, including those of a socio-political nature.
In the course of our conversation, she mentioned that she had been contacted a year ago by one of our former after-school tutors in Nigeria who had fallen on hard times.
This gentleman – whom I shall simply call YL – had asked my sister to provide assistance in any way she could as he was struggling to make ends meet for his young family. The news brought tears to my eyes and put me in a sour mood for a few days. After the melancholy passed, anger set in. This anger was – and is – largely directed at a society and a country that has done everything in its power to degrade knowledge, merit and intellectual achievement. What is especially painful is that the story of YL is only one of several in Nigeria and crucially, despite the supposed growth and diversification of Nigeria’s economy, shows no sign of reversal.
The curious case of YL is all the more peculiar, but no less uncommon, because of his academic pedigree. We are not talking of an academic slouch who took a teaching job because he could find nothing better to do or someone who was lazy and unwilling to ‘hustle’ for a job in his field. Not only was YL one of the first ‘hustlers’ I knew, at a time when hustling was still a relatively new term in Nigeria, the man was quite brilliant. He graduated from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife, with a Second Class, Upper Division degree in Electrical Engineering sometime in the early nineties. As those who have interacted with Ife graduates can confirm, they have one of the strongest engineering programs in Nigeria. Unfortunately, as those who lived in Nigeria in the nineties can also confirm, the country was no place for graduates. Those were the days when university graduates fasted and prayed to get lucky with the US DV lottery (green card) or tried – by hook or by crook – to cross the border and make their way to the backwaters of Africa and Europe. Anywhere but Nigeria, really. Those in Nigeria who had foresight – regardless of what they studied in university – ended up taking the ICAN exams to become chartered accountants. That is, until the banks failed in 1996/1997 and many were forced out of jobs and some, into jail.
If YL can be accused of not having the ‘foresight’ of his peers, perhaps it would help to understand that all he ever wanted to do was work as an engineer and he took delight in his technical ability. This – and his congenial nature – informed his decision to become an after-school tutor (or lesson teacher, as we called them in Nigeria). He taught three of my siblings as well and we were the better for it. I had always been a top student, but Physics was the one subject I did not enjoy and did not do as well in. It was under YL’s tutelage that I went from being a middling Physics student in SS1 at King’s College to having the best Physics exam result in SS2 – in a period of 2 academic terms! Not just did I do well in Physics, which by the time I was entering university was my favourite subject, but I enjoyed it immensely. Eventually, YL found a job working with a photocopier company in Nigeria. It wasn’t quite an engineering job, but he felt that taking on the technician-like work could give him valuable experience and open the doors to much more. We were happy for him, mostly because there really weren’t many options at the time.
Fast-forward to today.
YL still works in a technician-like role. He takes direction from foreign expatriates, some of whom don’t possess a university degree. Due to the fact that the work he does is not at a high-level technically, his pay and benefits have not seen the bumper increases typical of engineering work. After all, he could probably be replaced by someone with only a secondary school education and not much would change. Even if he wanted to leave and find something better, and he has tried most unsuccessfully to do so, he is now competing for scarce jobs in exclusive fields – oil/gas, banking and telecommunications – with engineers who are much younger, more computer-savvy and in many cases foreign-trained. In other words, YL’s time has passed and no one has an iota of care in the matter. Others, like him, exist in various fields, particularly in science and technology. Most are not even bothering to find technical jobs and have resorted to doing whatever will pay the bills. If that means buying and selling second-hand spare parts, cars or clothes, they do it. These are people – an entire generation – who, given the tools and the environment, could have developed several ‘Silicon Valleys’ in Nigeria. This is a generation that could have applied its knowledge to the solution of problems that have plagued Nigeria, such as our dilapidated civil works and our inefficient electricity grid. This generation could perhaps have designed and developed the first made-in-Nigeria car, high-speed train or spacecraft.
During the ongoing Ebola outbreak, the biggest debate has been over the development and use of experimental drugs on victims who were US/Western citizens and why such drugs hadn’t been made in commercial quantities for the wider public (read, Africans). One of the questions that arose was elegant in its simplicity, “why hasn’t an African country – especially Nigeria – developed a drug or vaccine that targets Ebola?” Perhaps someone in YL’s generation, including those research scientists and doctors now driving cabs in New York City, would have found the solution to Ebola, given half the chance and a quarter of the resources of their American or Canadian peers. That the practitioners of science and technology in Nigeria don’t have a ready outlet for their ideas, inventions and designs is nothing short of a crime by the country against its citizens. That our brilliant minds have to succeed in the ivory towers and hallowed halls of the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom to be considered accomplished is disgraceful for a country that boasts of having Africa’s ‘largest economy’.
So what’s the solution?
I think the government needs to implement a program akin to the New Deal in 1930s America. Commission large-scale research and development programs that require locally-trained engineers and scientists to fill 90% of all available roles. Foreign-trained experts, where required, should be Nigerian citizens and there to provide context and a global perspective, not to command and conquer as the typical expatriate in Nigeria does today. It may sound unnecessary and even tripe to some who read this piece, but this strategy – or something similar – is extremely important if Nigeria is to break the shackles of underdevelopment and take its rightful place in the global comity of advanced nations. These are steps similar to what China did with its National High Technology Program and Engineering Research Centers, among other programs. Japan did the same thing post-WWII when they did away with their dependence on British and American technology, closed themselves off and gave the world not only the best cars, trains and electronics, but also continuous improvement (Kaizen). Even India has taken steps similar to those taken by China in order to maximize their economic output, reduce reliance on foreign technologies and develop their own core competencies. Is it any wonder that the economic growth of each of these countries skyrocketed shortly after the implementation of these programs?
It’s time for Nigeria to harness its technical talent. It’s time for Nigeria to end its genocide on brainpower.
Nnaziri Ihejirika, an engineer and author, writes from Canada. His book, A Rainy Season, was recently released. Follow him on twitter @nnaziri.
In the course of our conversation, she mentioned that she had been contacted a year ago by one of our former after-school tutors in Nigeria who had fallen on hard times.
This gentleman – whom I shall simply call YL – had asked my sister to provide assistance in any way she could as he was struggling to make ends meet for his young family. The news brought tears to my eyes and put me in a sour mood for a few days. After the melancholy passed, anger set in. This anger was – and is – largely directed at a society and a country that has done everything in its power to degrade knowledge, merit and intellectual achievement. What is especially painful is that the story of YL is only one of several in Nigeria and crucially, despite the supposed growth and diversification of Nigeria’s economy, shows no sign of reversal.
The curious case of YL is all the more peculiar, but no less uncommon, because of his academic pedigree. We are not talking of an academic slouch who took a teaching job because he could find nothing better to do or someone who was lazy and unwilling to ‘hustle’ for a job in his field. Not only was YL one of the first ‘hustlers’ I knew, at a time when hustling was still a relatively new term in Nigeria, the man was quite brilliant. He graduated from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife, with a Second Class, Upper Division degree in Electrical Engineering sometime in the early nineties. As those who have interacted with Ife graduates can confirm, they have one of the strongest engineering programs in Nigeria. Unfortunately, as those who lived in Nigeria in the nineties can also confirm, the country was no place for graduates. Those were the days when university graduates fasted and prayed to get lucky with the US DV lottery (green card) or tried – by hook or by crook – to cross the border and make their way to the backwaters of Africa and Europe. Anywhere but Nigeria, really. Those in Nigeria who had foresight – regardless of what they studied in university – ended up taking the ICAN exams to become chartered accountants. That is, until the banks failed in 1996/1997 and many were forced out of jobs and some, into jail.
If YL can be accused of not having the ‘foresight’ of his peers, perhaps it would help to understand that all he ever wanted to do was work as an engineer and he took delight in his technical ability. This – and his congenial nature – informed his decision to become an after-school tutor (or lesson teacher, as we called them in Nigeria). He taught three of my siblings as well and we were the better for it. I had always been a top student, but Physics was the one subject I did not enjoy and did not do as well in. It was under YL’s tutelage that I went from being a middling Physics student in SS1 at King’s College to having the best Physics exam result in SS2 – in a period of 2 academic terms! Not just did I do well in Physics, which by the time I was entering university was my favourite subject, but I enjoyed it immensely. Eventually, YL found a job working with a photocopier company in Nigeria. It wasn’t quite an engineering job, but he felt that taking on the technician-like work could give him valuable experience and open the doors to much more. We were happy for him, mostly because there really weren’t many options at the time.
Fast-forward to today.
YL still works in a technician-like role. He takes direction from foreign expatriates, some of whom don’t possess a university degree. Due to the fact that the work he does is not at a high-level technically, his pay and benefits have not seen the bumper increases typical of engineering work. After all, he could probably be replaced by someone with only a secondary school education and not much would change. Even if he wanted to leave and find something better, and he has tried most unsuccessfully to do so, he is now competing for scarce jobs in exclusive fields – oil/gas, banking and telecommunications – with engineers who are much younger, more computer-savvy and in many cases foreign-trained. In other words, YL’s time has passed and no one has an iota of care in the matter. Others, like him, exist in various fields, particularly in science and technology. Most are not even bothering to find technical jobs and have resorted to doing whatever will pay the bills. If that means buying and selling second-hand spare parts, cars or clothes, they do it. These are people – an entire generation – who, given the tools and the environment, could have developed several ‘Silicon Valleys’ in Nigeria. This is a generation that could have applied its knowledge to the solution of problems that have plagued Nigeria, such as our dilapidated civil works and our inefficient electricity grid. This generation could perhaps have designed and developed the first made-in-Nigeria car, high-speed train or spacecraft.
During the ongoing Ebola outbreak, the biggest debate has been over the development and use of experimental drugs on victims who were US/Western citizens and why such drugs hadn’t been made in commercial quantities for the wider public (read, Africans). One of the questions that arose was elegant in its simplicity, “why hasn’t an African country – especially Nigeria – developed a drug or vaccine that targets Ebola?” Perhaps someone in YL’s generation, including those research scientists and doctors now driving cabs in New York City, would have found the solution to Ebola, given half the chance and a quarter of the resources of their American or Canadian peers. That the practitioners of science and technology in Nigeria don’t have a ready outlet for their ideas, inventions and designs is nothing short of a crime by the country against its citizens. That our brilliant minds have to succeed in the ivory towers and hallowed halls of the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom to be considered accomplished is disgraceful for a country that boasts of having Africa’s ‘largest economy’.
So what’s the solution?
I think the government needs to implement a program akin to the New Deal in 1930s America. Commission large-scale research and development programs that require locally-trained engineers and scientists to fill 90% of all available roles. Foreign-trained experts, where required, should be Nigerian citizens and there to provide context and a global perspective, not to command and conquer as the typical expatriate in Nigeria does today. It may sound unnecessary and even tripe to some who read this piece, but this strategy – or something similar – is extremely important if Nigeria is to break the shackles of underdevelopment and take its rightful place in the global comity of advanced nations. These are steps similar to what China did with its National High Technology Program and Engineering Research Centers, among other programs. Japan did the same thing post-WWII when they did away with their dependence on British and American technology, closed themselves off and gave the world not only the best cars, trains and electronics, but also continuous improvement (Kaizen). Even India has taken steps similar to those taken by China in order to maximize their economic output, reduce reliance on foreign technologies and develop their own core competencies. Is it any wonder that the economic growth of each of these countries skyrocketed shortly after the implementation of these programs?
It’s time for Nigeria to harness its technical talent. It’s time for Nigeria to end its genocide on brainpower.
Nnaziri Ihejirika, an engineer and author, writes from Canada. His book, A Rainy Season, was recently released. Follow him on twitter @nnaziri.
Brilliant Piece !!!
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