Train enough for Nigeria. Train enough for the world. Keep both connected.
By Francis E. Madojemu | BridgeWorks
This article was inspired by a recent video reflection by Nigerian entrepreneur and business leader Austin Okere, in which he asks a deceptively simple question: if Nigerians frequently thrive when they leave Nigeria, “Why are Nigerians running away from Nigerians?” His question became the starting point for this wider exploration of migration, human capital and what Nigeria might build instead of merely lamenting Japa.
Watch Austin Okere’s original LinkedIn post:
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/austin-okere_business-ideas-africa-ugcPost-7495501944405377025-ERrX/
AUSTIN OKERE’S QUESTION
Austin Okere asks an uncomfortable question.
Speaking about the growing migration of Nigerians, he observes:
“Nigerians are fantastic when they go out. Many thrive, but are not able to thrive here.”
Then he pushes the argument further:
“If you’re running away from Nigeria, it’s not the land you are running away from. You are running away from Nigerians. Why are Nigerians running away from Nigerians?”
— Austin Okere
It is a provocative question.
And perhaps we need provocative questions.
But I wonder whether there is another way to look at the problem.
Perhaps the question is not simply:
Why are Nigerians leaving Nigeria?
Perhaps we should also ask:
Why do so many Nigerians become extraordinarily productive when they enter other environments?
And then an even more important question:
What should Nigeria do about it?
My answer may sound counter-intuitive.
DON’T FIGHT JAPA.
BUILD THE PIPELINE.
Train enough people for Nigeria.
Train enough people for the world.
And build systems that keep both connected.
THE SAME NIGERIAN
Consider the paradox.
A Nigerian nurse leaves Lagos for London.
A Nigerian engineer moves from Port Harcourt to Houston.
A Nigerian software developer leaves Ibadan for Toronto.
A Nigerian academic moves to an American university.
Suddenly we begin hearing stories about how extraordinarily well Nigerians perform abroad.
But something should bother us about that explanation.
The nurse did not suddenly become intelligent when the aircraft landed at Heathrow.
The engineer did not acquire engineering ability at Houston airport.
The developer did not become talented at Canadian immigration.
Much of the human capital was already there.
Same Nigerian.
What changed?
The environment.
The systems.
The standards.
The infrastructure.
The incentives.
The opportunities.
The institutions surrounding the person.
This does not mean Nigerians have no responsibility for Nigeria. Institutions are ultimately built, operated and sometimes corrupted by people.
But it does mean that we should be careful about confusing behaviour produced by a system with the inherent quality of the people living inside it.
Human beings create systems.
But systems also shape human behaviour.
PEOPLE → SYSTEMS → PEOPLE.
That cycle can produce excellence.
It can also reproduce dysfunction.
THE JAPA DEBATE MAY BE ASKING THE WRONG QUESTION
Much of our national conversation about skilled migration begins with loss.
Our doctors are leaving.
Our nurses are leaving.
Our engineers are leaving.
Our technology professionals are leaving.
Therefore:
How do we stop them?
But the evidence suggests that the desire to migrate is already deeply embedded.
According to Afrobarometer’s 2024 Nigeria survey, 56% of Nigerians said they had considered emigrating, compared with 36% in 2017.
More strikingly, the proportion rose to 71% among Nigerians with post-secondary education and 60% among 18–35-year-olds.
The leading reasons were employment opportunities and economic hardship.
So perhaps prevention is the wrong starting point.
People have migrated throughout human history.
They move toward safety, opportunity, education, prosperity, family, adventure and possibility.
You cannot build a twenty-first-century human-capital strategy primarily around preventing human beings from moving.
And perhaps we shouldn’t try.
Instead of asking:
How do we stop skilled Nigerians from leaving?
What if we asked:
HOW DO WE KEEP PRODUCING MORE SKILLED NIGERIANS?
That changes everything.
FROM BRAIN DRAIN TO BRAIN PRODUCTION
Suppose Nigeria requires 100,000 additional professionals in a particular field.
The conventional approach is to train 100,000.
Then 20,000 leave.
We panic.
We call it brain drain.
We campaign against Japa.
But migration was predictable.
Why wasn’t it included in the original calculation?
A serious human-capital system should calculate:
Domestic workforce requirement
- ●
Expected migration
- ●
Retirements and attrition
- ●
Future economic growth
- ●
A capacity buffer
=
THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE WE ACTUALLY NEED TO TRAIN.
If we require 100,000 people domestically and reasonably expect significant numbers to pursue international opportunities, then we cannot train only 100,000 and subsequently become surprised that some exercise their freedom to leave.
Build a bigger pipeline.
This is not an argument for exporting the professionals Nigeria desperately needs.
It is the opposite.
It is an argument for dramatically increasing our capacity to develop people.
And there is evidence that migration opportunities themselves can sometimes stimulate that expansion.
Research highlighted by the World Bank found a remarkable effect in the Philippines after the United States expanded opportunities for foreign nurses.
Nursing enrolment increased dramatically. Training capacity expanded. And the researchers found that for every additional nurse who migrated, nine additional nurses were licensed in the Philippines.
Migration opportunity had increased the incentive to acquire the skill.
The researchers appropriately warn that this result cannot automatically be transferred to countries whose education systems cannot expand sufficiently.
But the principle is important:
Migration does not inevitably have to reduce a country’s stock of human capital. Under the right conditions, opportunity abroad can stimulate additional human-capital formation at home.
World Bank — “Brain gain: Providing healthcare workers with opportunities to migrate can increase education and supply of medical workers in origin countries”:
https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/peoplemove/brain-gain-providing-healthcare-workers-opportunities-migrate-can-increase-education-and
That is a radically different way of thinking about Japa.
INDIA UNDERSTOOD SOMETHING IMPORTANT
India offers an instructive example.
It has not treated participation in the global labour market simply as an unfortunate leakage of Indian talent.
Indian skills policy has deliberately included preparation for overseas employment and the development of skills aligned with international labour-market requirements.
Indian doctors work around the world.
Indian engineers work around the world.
Indian technology professionals work around the world.
And India continues producing more.
The lesson is not that India has solved every problem.
It has not.
And this qualification matters enormously:
YOU CANNOT EXPORT FASTER THAN YOU DEVELOP.
That is especially important in healthcare.
The World Health Organization currently projects a global shortage of approximately 11 million health workers by 2030, with the greatest shortages concentrated in low- and lower-middle-income countries.
WHO therefore stresses investment in education, employment, deployment and retention alongside ethical international recruitment.
WHO — Health Workforce:
https://www.who.int/health-topics/health-workforce
So our proposition cannot be:
EXPORT THE PEOPLE WE ALREADY HAVE.
It must be:
EXPAND THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE WE CAN DEVELOP.
NOT EVERYBODY WANTS TO LEAVE
This point is frequently forgotten.
Not every Nigerian wants to Japa.
Some people want to remain close to their families.
Some love living in Nigeria.
Some see opportunities here.
Some will build companies here.
Some will work in public institutions.
Some will teach.
Some will practise professions.
Some will never qualify for migration.
Some will qualify and simply decide they prefer home.
Others will leave for ten years and return.
Human beings are not identical units moving in one direction.
That is precisely why expanding the pipeline works.
If we dramatically increase the number of internationally competent Nigerians, some will leave.
Some will stay.
Some will return.
Some will invest.
Some will build companies.
Some will train the next generation.
The objective should not be to determine everybody’s destination.
The objective should be to increase everybody’s capability.
TRAIN ENOUGH FOR NIGERIA.
TRAIN ENOUGH FOR THE WORLD.
KEEP BOTH CONNECTED.
That third sentence may be the most important.
Because someone crossing Nigeria’s border does not cease to be connected to Nigeria.
But money is only one form of capital.
What about:
knowledge?
professional networks?
international markets?
mentoring?
technology transfer?
investment?
research collaboration?
professional standards?
returning expertise?
Imagine a Nigerian nurse in Vancouver helping train nurses in Ibadan.
Imagine a Nigerian engineer in Houston mentoring five engineering graduates in Lagos.
Imagine a Nigerian professor in London teaching a specialist module remotely at a Nigerian university.
Imagine Nigerian construction professionals abroad helping local craftsmen understand international standards.
Imagine diaspora entrepreneurs opening international markets for Nigerian businesses.
Then the person may have left geographically.
But the human capital has not disappeared completely.
That is no longer simply brain drain.
It begins to become brain circulation.
FROM A DRAIN TO A NETWORK
Perhaps we have been using the wrong mental picture.
We imagine migration as a pipe leaking people.
Nigeria trains them.
They leave.
Nigeria loses.
But imagine something different.
A network.
NIGERIA
→ trains
→ Nigerians remain
→ Nigerians migrate
→ migrants develop additional expertise
→ migrants create networks
→ migrants remit
→ migrants invest
→ migrants mentor
→ some return
→ some establish businesses
→ knowledge flows home
→ another generation is trained.
Now migration is not automatically a drain.
It can become a circulation system.
But that requires deliberate architecture.
It will not happen simply because Nigerians abroad love Nigeria.
THERE IS ALREADY A MODEL FOR THIS — AND IT HAS BEEN STUDIED FOR NIGERIA
This is where the research becomes particularly interesting.
The World Bank and Center for Global Development have already studied how a Global Skill Partnership could operate between Nigeria and European countries.
Their report is actually titled:
Expanding Legal Migration Pathways from Nigeria to Europe: From Brain Drain to Brain Gain.
The model asks both the origin country and destination country to think differently.
Instead of a wealthy country simply recruiting workers that Nigeria has already trained, the destination country can contribute finance and technology to expand training capacity in Nigeria.
The resulting system can effectively create two pathways.
HOME TRACK
Train people for occupations required inside Nigeria.
AWAY TRACK
Train additional people for the same broad professions while adding whatever competencies the destination market requires—language, licensing, regulation, cultural preparation or internationally recognised certification.
The destination country obtains workers with the skills it requires.
Nigeria receives expanded training capacity including training for people who will remain at home.
That is precisely how a potential brain drain begins becoming a possible brain gain.
Most remarkably, the World Bank/CGD study did not discuss Nigeria only in general terms.
It examined three potential practical applications:
Healthcare — Nigeria and the United Kingdom
Construction — Nigeria and Germany
ICT — Nigeria and European destination countries
World Bank — Managed Labor Migration Can Help Unlock Nigeria’s Unrealized Economic Potential:
https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2021/07/19/managed-labor-migration-can-help-unlock-nigeria-s-unrealized-economic-potential
Full World Bank/CGD report — Expanding Legal Migration Pathways from Nigeria to Europe: From Brain Drain to Brain Gain:
https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/873041626087072895/pdf/Expanding-Legal-Migration-Pathways-from-Nigeria-to-Europe-From-Brain-Drain-to-Brain-Gain.pdf
Center for Global Development — report overview:
https://www.cgdev.org/publication/expanding-legal-migration-pathways-nigeria-europe-brain-drain-brain-gain
So this is no longer merely:
“Francis thinks Nigeria should train more people.”
There is serious international-development thinking behind the proposition.
The question becomes:
WHY ARE WE NOT BUILDING IT AT SCALE?
WE HAVE THOUGHT ABOUT THIS BEFORE
Several years ago, I developed a proposal around supporting immigrant professionals—particularly nurses, teachers, engineers and technology professionals.
The thinking then focused largely on what happens when people migrate.
How do we help professionals understand credential recognition?
How do they build professional networks?
How do they adapt culturally?
How do they understand their value rather than accept permanent underemployment?
How do we prepare them to succeed professionally rather than simply celebrate that they managed to relocate?
I still believe those questions matter.
But I now think we need to move further upstream.
Why wait until the professional arrives in Canada?
Why not begin the preparation in Nigeria?
Why shouldn’t a Nigerian student understand from the beginning that the qualification being pursued can potentially operate in multiple markets?
Why shouldn’t training incorporate international standards?
Why shouldn’t language preparation begin earlier where necessary?
Why shouldn’t credential pathways be understood before migration?
And equally:
Why shouldn’t the same improved standards make the person who stays in Nigeria a better professional?
That is the breakthrough.
International readiness does not have to benefit only the person who leaves.
RAISING THE STANDARD RAISES THE QUALITY OF THE ENTIRE PIPELINE.
BUT PEOPLE ARE NOT EXPORT COMMODITIES
There is an important warning here.
A country should never begin treating its citizens as another raw material for export.
Nigeria exports crude oil.
We should not begin speaking about nurses, electricians and engineers in the same way.
People are not commodities.
Human development should enlarge people’s choices, not reduce them.
WHO’s health-workforce principles explicitly include protection of workers’ employment and professional rights and ethical international recruitment.
WHO — Health Workforce:
https://www.who.int/health-topics/health-workforce
So any serious global-skills strategy must protect:
fair recruitment,
freedom of movement,
worker rights,
proper information,
fair wages,
ethical recruitment,
recognition of qualifications,
professional development,
family considerations,
and the genuine freedom to remain, leave or return.
The objective is not:
How much foreign exchange can Nigeria extract from its diaspora?
It is:
HOW MANY NIGERIANS CAN WE ENABLE TO LIVE PRODUCTIVE, DIGNIFIED AND FLOURISHING LIVES — AND HOW CAN THAT GROWING NETWORK STRENGTHEN OTHERS?
That is People Capital.
THE PEOPLE ARE NOT THE SHORTAGE.
THE PIPELINE IS.
Nigeria has a huge population.
We usually discuss that population as a problem.
More schools required.
More hospitals required.
More food required.
More housing required.
More jobs required.
All true.
But perhaps we should change the lens.
What if 230+ million people are not merely:
230+ MILLION MOUTHS TO FEED?
What if they are:
230+ MILLION PEOPLE TO DEVELOP?
Oil is capital.
Gas is capital.
Gold is capital.
Lithium is capital.
Land is capital.
But people are capital too.
And human capital has an extraordinary characteristic that natural resources do not possess.
Develop one excellent teacher and that teacher can develop thousands of people.
Develop one excellent entrepreneur and that entrepreneur can employ hundreds.
Develop one excellent craftsman and that craftsman can train apprentices.
Develop one excellent nurse educator and that educator can help develop generations of nurses.
Human capital can reproduce human capital.
That is why our greatest resource may ultimately not be underneath Nigerian soil.
IT MAY BE WALKING ON TOP OF IT.
The World Bank’s current work on Nigeria similarly emphasises investment in human capital as foundational to productivity, economic opportunity and inclusive long-term growth.
World Bank — Nigeria Development Update:
https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/nigeria/publication/nigeria-development-update-ndu
SO WHAT CAN BRIDGEWORKS ACTUALLY DO?
This is where the argument must leave the page.
BridgeWorks should not become another platform that publishes intelligent essays explaining what the Nigerian government ought to do.
Our responsibility is smaller—and perhaps more useful.
Ask:
What is the smallest version of this idea that we can actually test?
Take one profession.
Take one city.
Take one small cohort.
And build the pipeline.
Construction trades could provide an excellent laboratory.
Interestingly, the World Bank/CGD Nigeria study itself identifies construction as one of the sectors potentially suited to a Global Skill Partnership and examines a possible Nigeria–Germany pathway.
So imagine:
BRIDGEWORKS GLOBAL SKILLS PIPELINE
Start with perhaps twenty people.
Not twenty thousand.
Twenty.
Take electrical installation as an example.
Assess them.
Train them.
Expose them to safety standards.
Teach them to read drawings and specifications.
Teach proper installation.
Teach testing.
Teach documentation.
Teach customer service.
Teach workplace discipline.
Teach digital literacy.
Teach basic financial literacy.
Assess their actual competence.
Then allow the pathways to diverge.
Some may say:
“My future is in Ibadan.”
Excellent.
Help them become exceptional electricians in Ibadan.
Connect them to contractors, developers, facilities and customers who value competence.
Some may say:
“I want an international career.”
Excellent.
Identify the additional certification, licensing, language or experience their chosen destination requires.
Do not promise them visas.
Prepare them for competence.
Others may say:
“I want to start my own company.”
Excellent.
Help them understand estimating, pricing, customer acquisition, bookkeeping and apprenticeship.
And perhaps one eventually says:
“I want to train others.”
Now the pipeline begins multiplying itself.
THEN MEASURE EVERYTHING
BridgeWorks should document the experiment.
How many entered?
How many completed?
What did they know before?
What could they demonstrably do afterwards?
How many found work?
How many increased their income?
How many created businesses?
How many employers were satisfied?
What competencies were missing?
What did training cost per person?
What international standards proved relevant locally?
How many wanted to migrate?
How many wanted to remain?
What surprised us?
What failed?
What should Cohort Two do differently?
That transforms an opinion into evidence.
And it gives us something Nigeria desperately needs:
SMALL EXPERIMENTS THAT CAN BE COPIED.
THINK → BUILD → PERSONALIZE → IMPACT
This is exactly what BridgeWorks is intended to do.
THINK
Austin Okere asks:
“Why are Nigerians running away from Nigerians?”
We take the question seriously and investigate it.
Then we ask another:
Why does Nigerian talent often perform differently inside different systems?
BUILD
Don’t wait for a national programme.
Build one small skills pipeline.
PERSONALIZE
Twenty actual human beings.
Their aspirations.
Their families.
Their abilities.
Their choices.
Some staying.
Some building businesses.
Some pursuing global opportunities.
IMPACT
Measure what changed.
Publish it.
Improve it.
Repeat it.
Allow somebody else to copy it.
That is how an idea begins becoming infrastructure.
PERHAPS THIS IS THE BETTER RESPONSE TO JAPA
Don’t shame the young Nigerian who wants to leave.
Don’t romanticise the person who stays.
Don’t assume everybody abroad has succeeded.
Don’t assume everybody at home has failed.
Don’t pretend migration has no cost.
And don’t pretend we can stop human beings pursuing opportunity.
Instead:
BUILD PEOPLE.
Build enough people that mobility does not continually empty essential institutions.
Build enough people that Nigerian businesses have competent workers.
Build people to international standards.
Build systems that reward those who remain.
Build networks that connect those who leave.
Build pathways for those who return.
Build the next generation behind all of them.
Then Japa stops being merely a story about what Nigeria is losing.
It becomes part of a much larger story about what Nigeria is producing.
Austin Okere’s question deserves to remain with us:
“Why are Nigerians running away from Nigerians?”
But perhaps BridgeWorks can add another:
WHAT IF WE DEVELOPED SO MANY CAPABLE NIGERIANS THAT THE WORLD WANTED THEM — AND NIGERIA STILL HAD ENOUGH?
And another:
WHAT IF LEAVING NIGERIA DID NOT MEAN LEAVING NIGERIA’S DEVELOPMENT?
That is the pipeline we need to build.
Not a wall around our people.
A bigger pipeline through which people can learn, work, move, return, connect and multiply what they know.
Train enough for Nigeria.
Train enough for the world.
Keep both connected.
DON’T FIGHT JAPA.
BUILD THE PIPELINE.
SOURCES & FURTHER READING
Austin Okere — original inspiration/video
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/austin-okere_business-ideas-africa-ugcPost-7495501944405377025-ERrX/
World Bank & Center for Global Development
Expanding Legal Migration Pathways from Nigeria to Europe: From Brain Drain to Brain Gain
https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/873041626087072895/pdf/Expanding-Legal-Migration-Pathways-from-Nigeria-to-Europe-From-Brain-Drain-to-Brain-Gain.pdf
World Bank
Managed Labor Migration Can Help Unlock Nigeria’s Unrealized Economic Potential
https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2021/07/19/managed-labor-migration-can-help-unlock-nigeria-s-unrealized-economic-potential
Center for Global Development
Expanding Legal Migration Pathways from Nigeria to Europe
https://www.cgdev.org/publication/expanding-legal-migration-pathways-nigeria-europe-brain-drain-brain-gain
World Bank
Brain gain: Providing healthcare workers with opportunities to migrate can increase education and supply of medical workers in origin countries
https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/peoplemove/brain-gain-providing-healthcare-workers-opportunities-migrate-can-increase-education-and
Afrobarometer
Majority of Nigerians have considered emigration in search of opportunity
https://www.afrobarometer.org/articles/majority-of-nigerians-have-considered-emigration-in-search-of-opportunity-new-afrobarometer-survey-finds/
World Health Organization
Health Workforce
https://www.who.int/health-topics/health-workforce
World Bank
Nigeria Development Update
https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/nigeria/publication/nigeria-development-update-ndu
A note on Austin Okere’s contribution
This article does not present the wider argument above as Austin Okere’s position. His short video provided the provocation.
His observation that Nigerians frequently thrive outside Nigeria, followed by his question—“Why are Nigerians running away from Nigerians?”—is the intellectual starting point from which I have developed the wider argument about systems, human-capital production, migration pipelines and diaspora connection.
The research, interpretations, proposals and BridgeWorks application that follow are my own synthesis and should not be attributed to him.
BridgeWorks
THINK → BUILD → PERSONALIZE → IMPACT
BridgeWorks exists to move useful ideas beyond discussion: understand the problem, build something small, test it with real people, measure what changes, and share what we learn.
Francis E. Madojemu
