In November 2008, amid growing evidence that the worst international financial crisis in generations was taking a heavy toll on economies around the world, the then President of the United States of America, George W. Bush, told the leaders from the G20 countries, who were at a working dinner at the White House to discuss the challenges facing the globe, that the financial crisis will not be resolved “overnight”.
He said, “This problem did not develop overnight and it will not be solved overnight but with continued cooperation and determination it will be solved.”
President Bush had a point. The crisis the world faced at the time had blown up the previous year when the US housing market went into reverse and took a turn for the worse in the month leading to that G20 meeting in Washington.
As banks in the United States and Europe booked losses from their exposure to the US housing market, they stopped lending to each other, thereby sparking a credit crunch that effectively birthed the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) that marked the period as one of the most severe worldwide economic crises that occurred in the early 21st century and the most serious financial crisis since the Great Depression of 1929. Yet, there were telltale signs of a looming crisis, which was mostly overlooked by those with the capacity to prevent its occurrence.
As far back as 1998, William Brennan, American Director of the Home Defense Programme at the Atlanta Legal Aid Society, not only foresaw the financial collapse of 2008, but also had the brilliant foresight to identify sectors that would be ineluctably scarred by the inevitable impact of the burst, when it happened, even as subprime lenders earned enormous profits making mortgages to people who clearly could not afford them.
Speaking up against what he knew were bad loans for borrowers and bad loans for the Wall Street investors buying up these shaky mortgages by the thousands, Brennan told members of the Senate Special Committee: “I think this house of cards may tumble some day and it will mean great losses for the investors who own stock in those companies.”
His counsel, alongside warnings from bank regulators, consumer advocates, and a handful of lawmakers, that these high-cost loans represented a systemic risk to the economy, went unheeded. Instead, the US Congress, the White House, and the Federal Reserve all dithered while the subprime disaster spread. Then, the bubble burst and not only did those loans bankrupt investors, they nearly took down the entire global banking system.
In the aftermath of the crisis, evidence from Congressional hearings and oversight reports, as well as interviews with former officials, revealed a troubling history of missed opportunities, thwarted regulations and lack of oversight. It did not happen overnight, but those with the capacity to act were negligent and but for remedial actions after the fact, the impact of the burst could have been worse.
A crisis of monumental proportions, similar to the GFC in terms of national scale, is taking place in Nigeria at this very moment and it is leading Nigerians in their droves, particularly our highly skilled citizens, to seek greener pastures abroad. What the average Nigerian is enduring is threatening our natural ability to endure and adapt, especially with the consistent declining value of the naira.
Private-sector operating conditions are abysmal and coupled with further deterioration in the key oil sector, which has been the lifeblood of the country’s earnings, there is nothing to act like a defibrillator to shock the struggling economy or the naira back to life. Consequently, the marked rise in inflation goes on unabated and the twin metrics of energy and food price continue to increase further strangulating attempts by the majority of the country’s poverty-stricken population to slide further down in immiseration.
It is even worse when the bloated deficit spending, massive borrowing, job losses, forex scarcity and high unemployment issues are factored into the mix. This is the situation we have found ourselves but, it was also not without warning.
At different times over the past few years, various international bodies, from the International Monetary Fund to the World Trade Organisation, from the African Development Bank to stakeholders across the length and breadth of the country, have unceasingly warned the Nigerian government about arresting the economic slide with a comprehensive economic plan and disabuse the idea of attempting to solve every problem by seeking financial input from abroad because of the unsustainability of excessive borrowing.
These warnings reflect age-long warnings, which have also been overlooked. The late Afrobeat musician Fela Anikulapo Kuti himself, amidst the rhythmic sounds of his unmistakable style of music, warned of the crises the country is undergoing. His was one voice, amongst the loudest, among many, that sounded warnings so that the country could avoid this problem of today. Yet, here we are.
We have before us today a frightening and worsening case of brain drain that is disturbing and causing me to worry for the country’s future. Indeed, it is by no means a new problem. What has made it extremely worrisome now is the growing crop of top-to-medium level executives, experienced employees, career professionals in medicine and science and experts in specialised fields and technological innovators, who are dumping relatively good paying jobs and the opportunities for promotions and elevation for the chance of a better life outside the shores of the country. The spate of resignations across board has numbed executives in medical and other institutions, companies, organisations and multinationals into the realisation that their long-term succession plans have been disturbed by this wave of departures.
Outside the corporate world, the level of the problem is not any better. Those who want to exit the country are seeking offers to leave from wherever an opportunity presents itself and they often fall into the hands of unscrupulous elements, wishing to cash in on their sense of desperation. Their willingness to take the chance to go anyway is tearing apart the fabric of the society from the very basic unit: The family.
With the threats to family unity posed by flight out of the country, there is an increase in the possibility of a proportional increase in dysfunctional families around the country. The very dire implication of this is that we will have a dysfunctional community, a dysfunctional local government, a dysfunctional state and definitely, a dysfunctional country. Given all the other problems bedevilling the country, adding all these dysfunctional segments will be a problem we can best avoid.
For the country’s progress, there is no way a progressive nation can reach growth projections when their best are jumping ship at the rate these migrations out of the country are happening. It was before our eyes that no fewer than 500 Nigerian doctors turned up at a recruitment meet organised by the Saudi Arabian Health Ministry to select Nigerian doctors for work in their country.
The brazen nature of the exercise was possible because there is a growing population of Nigerians who, given the opportunity, will jump at any chance to leave these shores.
Nigerian doctors and nurses in their thousands have migrated from the country in the last two decades to Canada, United States and England.
Nigeria’s human resources are the sources of the country’s wealth and losing potential discoverers, inventors, change-makers, technological innovations, experts in various fields cannot be good for any nation, how much more one that needs all the best minds it can boast of to boost its chances of breaking free from its myriad problems to craft a future that is bright and progressive.
That such a threatening problem has not received the type of attention that it merits from federal and state governments is disheartening to witness. There is no urgency on the part of the government because those who are leading us neither understand the severity of the issue, lack the knowledge to find solutions to the problems and are insensitive to the concerns of the common man. Most of them are only interested in what they can make for themselves and for their families as quickly as they can, with every opportunity they can find. Therefore, we see that there is no plan, no structure and no data to apply to leverage and integrate into finding lasting solutions to the causes of these large-scale migrations. Yet, it is not rocket science. If Nigeria is conducive to live in, if the incessant security issues are taken care of, if the conditions of living improve, if the economy picks up, if the healthcare and the educational systems are functional and people can find rewarding employment for their time and services, there will be a reversal of these migrations.
Nigerians are not a people that are difficult to satisfy. They ask for just the basics that a government ought to provide as part of its social contract with citizens and they are willing to put in the work to make the ends meet for themselves. Yet, this has not been the case and the red lights are flashing now as there are large populations of Nigerians looking elsewhere for a better life.
No one expects a complete reversal of this devastating brain drain overnight if policy makers begin to fix the issues but the consequences will be dire if the causes of these departures are not addressed urgently. To be forewarned is to be forearmed.
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