The President of the Nigerian Academy of Science, Abubakar Sambo, has said that brain drain remains a challenging issue that requires balanced national solutions through exploring brain gain.
Sambo stated this during a webinar organised by the academy to address talent flight, intellectual burnout, and national capacity retention.
Brain gain primarily occurs when well-trained people return home to contribute their talents to their country’s development.
Sambo said that evaluating both sides of the talent migration coin was essential to repositioning scientific innovation for sustainable national growth.
A professor of Neuroscience at the University of Ibadan, James Olopade, said Nigeria should engineer its scientific ecosystem to convert brain drain into brain gain.
Olopade said that a 200 per cent surge in professionals leaving the country occurred between 2023 and 2024 across all critical sectors.
He said that China systematically reversed its talent flight by drastically increasing investment in research and development.
“Brain gain can occur, but it has to be engineered and planned for through deliberate funding and infrastructure,” he said.
Olopade said that only 25,000 Nigerian doctors were available to treat an estimated 220 million people, highlighting the critical state of the health sector.
He said the gap is driven by remuneration, noting that local doctors earn about $400 per month compared to $18,000 in the U.S.
Olopade expressed optimism about the proposed National Research and Innovation Development Fund, signed by President Bola Tinubu, to remedy structural gaps.
“The fund commits $500 million annually to research funding for Nigeria’s knowledge economy, which will help us to face our unique problems,” he said.