How Nigeria Can Gain From Brain Drain, By Oluwajoba Oloba, Cofounder, The Nest Hub
- The Nigerian tech ecosystem is brimming with talents, but there have also been a lot of exits from the system
- But Oluwajoba Oloba, The Nest Hub co-founder in Yaba said Nigeria should do more to retain its talent pool
- Oloba said the country should create a programme that will keep Nigerian tech talents outside the country in touch with those at home
Oluwajoba Oloba, the co-founder of the Nest Hub, a co-working space in the heart of Yaba in Lagos, has some ideas about how Nigeria can convert the present mass exodus of young tech talents from the country to its advantage.
During an interview at Legi.ng’s flagship programme, Digital Talk Show, Oloba said that the school and society do not equip Nigerian youths to survive in the present-day job market.
Source: UGC
Nigeria's creative industry, key to retaining talents
He said that Nigeria could benefit so much from its abundant tech talents and creatives, saying that Nigeria has gotten so much exposure and international recognition from both the creative industry and tech ecosystem.
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He said:
“The creative space is another area that has been heavily neglected. Look at our exports; look at the music we are churning out; look at the kind of things it has given us - international accolades and recognition. It’s within the creative space and within the tech space.”
He stated that Nigeria should look into the future and increase the chunk of people coming out from these two areas so that the country can still have enough talent pool to draw from when people leave.
Oloba expressed optimism about Nigeria’s tech ecosystem, saying that there are programmes that help people travel legally while also training and equipping them with the required skills to survive.
Nigeria should create programmes for those in diaspora
According to him, people will keep leaving for different reasons; this is not the first time this happened. He cited the early 1980s when a lot of Nigerians left the country.
“What is good about this time is that there is the internet now. It’s not about not going, it is what happens after. Instead of deterring people from leaving, how do we make sure we have more people trained? The people that left, we keep a relationship with them so that at end of the day, some of them can come back to Nigeria and replicate whatever they’ve seen outside that will benefit Nigeria, Oloba said.”
The Nest Hub boss said that rather than see the present exodus as a brain drain, Nigeria should readjust its focus and see it as a brain gain by creating a pipeline that will keep them in touch with the country.
When asked if there is hope for the tech ecosystem in Nigeria, he stated that Nigeria should create a programme where those in the diaspora can engage with those still at home.
For organisations to retain talents, he said employers must be creative with their recruitment requirements to have skills.
What employers do to retain staff
“It’s the generation that we are in. We have more impatient people now that want to work for three months, five months, then they move. They want to try something new,” he said.
The tech buff stated that employers need to understand their community, their staff, and their needs, be there for them, create an enabling environment and be interested in them.
“I have heard different models that people do, even some founders paying their employees’ spouses salaries and making life conducive for their staff.”
Oloba said the priority for many talents is convenience, and if employers can create enough incentives for their staff, they will retain the skills.
UK Licenses 266 Nigerian doctors in two months as diaspora remittances rev up Nigeria’s external reserves
Legit.ng reported that the General Medical Council which offers licenses and maintains the official register of medical practitioners in the United Kingdom has licensed about 266 Nigerian doctors in June and July 2022, according to a report by The Punch.
What that means is that three Nigerian doctors were licensed per day in June and July, irrespective of the moves by the Nigerian government to stop the mass movement of doctors and health workers in Nigeria from moving abroad in search of green pastures.
Data obtained by the MC register shows that the number of Nigeria-trained doctors currently in the US stands at about 9,976.
Source: Legit.ng
