Africa’s workforce is bleeding – but nobody seems to care about it or maybe its leaders are even encouraging it directly or indirectly.
Just last week, Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu on a state visit to St Lucia signed an agreement to deploy skilled manpower – teachers, medical professionals, and agriculturists – to the Caribbean country.
But the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) disagrees. Why? The medical association said medical workers in Nigeria are paid poorly and this led to an exodus of personnel abroad in search of greener pastures and a shortage of health personnel.
Over the past five years, more than 40 million Africans have migrated abroad, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The African Union estimates that 70,000 skilled professionals leave the continent every year, a number that continues to grow.
The doctor-to-patient ratio is one doctor to about 5,000 patients, the NMA said in 2022 which is against one doctor to 600 patient ratio recommended by the U.N World Health Organisation (WHO).
THE EFFECT
The continent is projected to face a shortfall of 5.3 million health workers by 2030, according to the WHO.
Apart from the brain drain in medicine, other sectors in Africa’s continent are recording huge losses. South Africa has lost up to 67% of its skilled workers in key sectors over the past two decades.
Universities are also losing lecturers at a rate that threatens academic continuity and institutional memory.
However, it appears some of the continent’s recent leaders are encouraging this skilled migration for short-term gains.
The World Bank says Africa receives over $40 billion annually in remittances, an economic lifeline that some governments are now prioritizing over long-term development planning.
Kenya has deployed over 200,000 workers abroad in two years and plans to send 1 million annually.
Ethiopia and Ghana have signed bilateral labour agreements with Gulf nations to export labour.
While this may reduce unemployment in the short term and bring in remittances, it comes at the cost of weakening national institutions and long-term self-reliance which is at the heart of Africa’s development.
Joy Edem, a nurse trained in Delta state, said she migrated to Europe for work to be able to gain better pay and support her family back home in Nigeria.
It is not just poor remuneration alone, corruption and security challenges have forced many skilled workers to leave the shores of Africa.
WAY FORWARD
To build the self-reliance that Africa needs to thrive as the world increasingly becomes competitive, its leaders must invest in infrastructure and manufacturing to create well-paying jobs.
Africa must put in place measures to encourage return migration in form of tax breaks and support for housing among many other programmes.
China and India have successfully transformed brain drain into brain gain by persuading back top talent that once migrated to the West.
They did it through strategic investments in innovation, the development of robust tech ecosystems, and targeted incentives for returnees, both countries turned their diasporas into assets which has led to economic growth, knowledge transfer, and global competitiveness.
A 2021 KPMG report said 30% of Indian tech start-up founders were foreign-educated returnees. As of 2020, more than 80% of Chinese students who studied abroad returned home to contribute to the economy, according to China’s Ministry of Education.
There must be strong political will to strengthen institutions across all sectors. Without bold reforms and deliberate action, the continent will continue to bleed its workforce. Unless steps like investing in innovation, improving governance, providing incentives and creating opportunities are taken, Africa risks deepening the crisis to its detriment.