No one can
fault the patriotic concern that motivates it. Besides he, as a high official
of this federal republic, is duty bound to say and do all within his powers to
raise his portfolio higher than he meets it and his call is in order. He even
promises to ‘look for Nigerians and bring them back [because] all nations of
the world are built by their own people and not by foreigners’. The minister is
right on this justification, but he knows too well, that it is absolute wishful
thinking that government can force any successful Nigerian to come home unless
the incentive is tangible and real.
First, the
question must be asked: how well are the researchers, scientists and experts
who stay back in the country treated by the system? What facilities and
resources are available to them to work with in order to compete at global
level? There is too little available to these men and women to enable them
excel in their respective fields. It is regrettable Nigeria is at this time
unattractive to anyone who seeks excellence in his field of endeavour with
necessities as basic as regular electricity and water supply not available.
It is trite
even to say that if the operating environment is conducive, Nigerians would
return to this country in droves. Professionals need key requirements to
function optimally. Top on the list is a steady supply of electricity to do
just about any business they are engaged in, be they doctors to perform
surgical operation, researchers to conduct experiments, academics to read and
write books, information technology engineers to design new products. If
Nigeria wants academics to return, where are the modern tools to work with?
Where are the laboratories? And where are the libraries well equipped with
up-to-date publications?
Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu was quoted saying “…science,
technology, and mathematics have very important roles to play in nation
building [and] it is the absence of science and technology that has kept us
where we are”. He is not saying anything new. Section (2) of the extant
constitution says that government shall promote Science and Technology.
Microsoft founder, Bill Gates,
posited recently that America’s large federal budget for research and
development (R&D) has been the country’s ‘secret weapon’ to achieve the
domination of the world in innovation and the production of goods and services.
President Muhammadu Buhari promised N3b to a research foundation. Pray,
what can such a paltry sum do? Such gesture, combined with the fact that a
paltry N25.85b is allocated to the Ministry of Science and Technology in the
proposed 2016 federal budget, and a meagre N369.55b to Education speak for a
lack of seriousness to create the environment that can attract talents into the
country. But education is central to advances in science technology and indeed
every field of human activity. Alas, education is not, as it should be, the
highest priority in Nigeria.
It is
axiomatic that home is where the heart is. Nigerians abroad would be too happy
to make to their fatherland the kind of unquantifiable contributions they are
forced by a hostile home environment to give to other nations. Even now, they
remit into the Nigerian economy billions of dollars each year. Much of this, of
course, goes into the hands of relatives. This is a huge amount of money that a
focused government could access to execute productive development projects with
multiplying effects. But it is private money that people will only put at the
disposal of a government they can trust not to misapply or misappropriate.
There are
many examples of Nigerians who by choice returned with the patriotic zeal to do
their bit for Nigeria; there are many others who were headhunted to come and work
in government. Too many have been badly burnt by the experience of working in
Nigeria. The level of intrigues, corrupt practices, of hostile attitude, of
meanness, of bootlicking, that pervade there operating environments are simply
unbearable. Some go back in frustration while some come off badly burnt in
career or financial terms.
Other
reasons keep Nigerians in the Diaspora away. They are used to an environment
where life and property are reasonably safe, where terms of contract are
respected and the rule of law of adhered to, where government policies are
largely consistent. They are used to a stable polity not dominated by political
and financial corruption and where politicians play their game with maturity
and with the best interest of the nation at heart. Not in Nigeria yet. Which
Nigerian would return to a home country where salaries are not paid for months,
the federal budget is so fraught with fraud and so long delayed?
No one,
regardless of any sense of patriotism, will leave a society where things work
for one where things don’t; where corruption in high places is a way of life.
Certainly, most Nigerians would be too happy to return and build their country
but the powers that be must be seen, without a shred of doubt, to create the
right conditions for it. This is what Onu and the government he serves in
should not only speak about, but act upon. (Guardian)
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