Nigeria Won't Grow And Prosper If... Okonjo-iweala

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the WTO's director general, has lamented the rate at which young, educated Nigerians are leaving the nation in search of better opportunities.

On Monday, May 15, the former finance minister claimed young Nigerians won't be eager to move overseas if they can succeed in the nation. He was speaking at the 2023 induction for re-elected and elected governors.

Okonjo-Iweala urged the governors to concentrate on nation-building and invest in their respective states' infrastructure and educational systems, emphasizing that Nigeria will struggle to "develop and prosper" if young people continue to leave the country.

According to her, "With our large numbers of educated people fluent in English - together with a deep network of connections to the diaspora - we are well positioned to seize these opportunities.

"But such businesses, like our tech startups, will struggle to thrive if we keep losing so many of our most skilled young people to emigration. Let me share some numbers.

In 2021, around 15,000 Nigerians immigrated to Canada, joining the 19,000 who had already done so in the two years prior. A 20,000 estimate is made for 2022. In just four years, there have been over 50,000 talented Nigerians.

Only in the first six months of 2022, the UK gave approximately 16,000 Nigerians visas for qualified workers. In the USA, thousands of medical professionals with Nigerian training practice. I'm heading to Japan is now Nigeria's most used phrase. I don't want to discourage anyone from going, but how many of these japa can we really afford? "Kapa" if you are Japanese.

"Excellencies You need to create a welcoming, inspiring environment throughout your states and all of Nigeria so that young people desire to stay and grow there rather than flee. Nigeria will not thrive and prosper if its young, tech-savvy population leaves, as much as we enjoy the remittances that these migrants send home. Their absence eliminates our demographic dividend."