African brain drain: the grand scourge of our times

African professionals have been flocking Western countries en masse in the last decade or so in search of the proverbial 'green pastures'. This has put African economies in such a grave spot

Our dear friends in the medical profession have dominated in the "efflux" of professional brains from this continent. In the recent past, statistics have shown that female nurses from African countries are landing lucrative jobs in The UK and America. With the green bucks, the Euro and Pound smiling at them they are left with little else to do but to bid farewell to penury and embrace the 'fatter' checks.

The story is told of a fifty-year old nurse, a widow and a mother of five (three boys, two girls) who made the painful decision of relocating to the UK to work as a nurse. She had to leave her children behind (three of them had jobs and families of their own, one was at the university and the last one was in secondary school).

Her new job entailed taking care of the aged – their waking up, their eating, their toilet, their bathing, their pains and sorrows, practically everything. This was quite a change of the work environment for her. She was used to wards and patients. She was used to doing rounds in wards and getting to know how patients were coming along. Anyway, for the bucks she could do anything.

We are giving our professionals a raw deal here in Africa. Their pay is low as compared to their contemporaries in other countries in the world. In view of this, I don't see the reason why they shouldn't 'drain' their 'brain' anywhere east or west so long as the pay is good. I know this is not the best of situations.

• We need to benefit from our own brothers' and sisters' brains right here in Africa.
• We want our Africa to stand on its feet and have a say in this world.
• We want our economies to stabilize and grow.
• We want all the good brains that are being churned out at our universities and colleges to help redeem Africa economically and politically.

Sadly, this can only be realized if all the key players in our governments are keen enough to come up with lasting solutions to our woes as Africans. Some of the people at the helm of our governments are self-centered and only look to their own interests and those of their families. They fail to realize that there are millions looking up to them and that the very strokes of their pens could spell death to generations. This is why corruption and nepotism are still weighing us down up to now.

Brain drain is decimating our output and curtailing our progress. Yes, and rightly so. The millions of dollars that were used to educate the people who now opt to go and work outside Africa have to be recovered somehow. It is no secret that most of them were educated on loans they took from their governments. As you well know, governments principally get money from taxpayers. So here, we are talking of the cream of the nation funding these guys' loans.

Shouldn't our countries then benefit from the education that they helped afford our dear brothers and sisters? African legislators and statesmen, please wake up to this fact and act pronto. We are waiting for your clarion call, Sirs.