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African Diaspora and the Relocation
Challenge
By Uche Nworah
Africa is once again on the agenda of the global
community, there appear to be shared concerns amongst
the developed countries and the developing (African)
countries that critical initiatives are needed to tackle
some of the problems which have continued to plague the
continent and retard her progress, these issues have
been identified by several commentators to include
unemployment, poor infrastructural development,
corruption, indiscipline, poverty, and mass migration.
The later has led to what is now known as the brain
drain syndrome.
All over Africa, several socio-economic reforms are
currently being sponsored and implemented by donor and
aid agencies, Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and
also by Africans themselves in collaboration with their
respective governments, with the intentions of moving
the continent forward. This has also led to the call to
Africans in the diaspora, who are expected to spearhead
the continent’s renaissance to retrace their steps and
come back home to invest their skills and resources in
the development of the continent.
The importance of
the diasporas in African renaissance could be seen in
their strength as well as resources. Using Nigeria as an
example, Rena Singer of the American Christian Science
Monitor (February 26, 2002 edition) estimates that 15
million Nigerians (more than 1 in 10 Nigerians) live
abroad, these figures are validated by other sources
such as Africa Action which claimed recently
that as many as 15 million Nigerians
live outside the country, in neighbouring countries and
across the African continent, in Britain and throughout
the Commonwealth, in other European countries, and in
many Asian countries as well.
The Migrations
and Development Report from the International
Development Select Committee (UK) estimates that over
$300 Billion was sent from developed to developing
countries in 2003 by diasporas living in the developed
countries. Global remittance, the report maintains is
growing faster than official development assistance from
the developed countries, is the second largest source of
external funding for developing countries behind Foreign
Direct Investment (FDI), and also accounts for as much
as 27% of the GDP for some African countries. The report
also says that global remittance accounts for 5% of GDP
in Nigeria with a predicted increase in the coming
years. A U.S government official recently claimed that
Nigerian diasporas remit back to Nigeria the sum of $12
billion annually, while other sources claim that
Nigerians send a total of $5Billion annually through the
official channels of the Western Union and other
financial institutions.
Therefore, the importance of diasporas to Africa’s
renaissance can not be overemphasized. In a recent
conversation, a few diasporas of African descent share
their views and plans of taking up the relocation
challenge.
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Emmanuel Sisensengham
(Business Owner), United Kingdom
“At the moment, I have no
immediate plans of relocating back to
Cameroon; I am self-employed and can’t see
myself throwing away the business I have
managed to set up to go back to an uncertain
future in Cameroon. It is always a nice idea
to explore other opportunities back home
because home is always the best, but the
political situation in Cameroon is not
encouraging. Look at Paul Biya, he has been
the President now for 25 years and has
refused to go, even when he eventually
leaves, his party (CPDM) would still
continue and it will be business as usual.
Heeding the call to come home and invest is
good but one has to be realistic about it”.
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Dede
Mayombo (Accounts Supervisor), United
Kingdom
“I share the views of
majority of Congolese people that
President Joseph
Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo
was not duly elected by the people, he fixed
the election results. He is a part of the
problem, although it may be early days yet
to judge his government but I don’t think
that I will be in a hurry to relocate back
to DRC just yet. While it sounds like the
best thing to do but security of lives and
investments is still a major issue. Let
Kabila introduce order and peace in the
country and then Congolese people like me in
the diaspora may consider the idea”.
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Dr. Ifunanya Chez-Williams
(Medical practitioner), United Kingdom
“I
miss home and love to go back to Nigeria
eventually to practice but I don’t think I’m
quite ready yet. I’m still undergoing some
professional training here in the UK; such
opportunities may not be readily available
to me in Nigeria. Again before one even
considers any such calls to go back home,
The Nigerian government should restore back
the integrity of the medical and health
sector, they should leave politics out of
health care. Poor funding, meagre
remunerations packages and lack of
maintenance culture have been the bane of
the sector; these issues still need to be
looked at by the Nigeria government”.
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Alex Kamotho
(Lecturer) United Kingdom
“I plan to go back to
Kenya when I am 37 years - that is in six
years time. During this time I hope to have
completed my PhD in development finance as I
want to go back and work for the public
service and possibly in the finance and
planning ministry, the treasury ministry or
at the education ministry. I may also become
a university lecturer. I hope to have
substantial savings by then as I want to
lead a modest life without resorting to
corruption of any kind as this is a major
problem bedevilling my beloved country
Kenya. I believe that even with the
difficulties and challenges, Africa still
needs us more than ever, and there’s no
point going back to retire in my 50s or 60s
when I am no longer productive and become a
burden to the society that so painfully
nurtured me. I can’t wait for the years to
go by so that I can go back home”.
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Edison Samuel
(Faculty Manager), United Kingdom
“The opportunities are
becoming less for people of colour in this
country (United Kingdom); the EU enlargement
means that Africans and other people of
colour are falling behind in the pecking
order of employment as people of a fairer
(white) skin colour are more advantaged. The
desire and urge to go back to Grenada is
huge at the moment, I have every intention
of going back to my homeland on the
completion of my doctoral studies. I will
return to my country and give something back
through education and skills sector”. |
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Olivier Luendu
(Student), Belgium
“I am studying in Belgium
at the moment; however the conditions of
African immigrants living in that country
are deteriorating every day. We are
discriminated against in housing, employment
and even in education. You will be amazed
that Belgian schools and universities
discriminate against Africans who are
finding it increasingly difficult to be
enrolled. Definitely my wish is to go back
to Congo (DRC) eventually although that is
another issue as there are even less
opportunities there, I don’t even know what
my fate would be and what the future would
hold for me if I was to decide today to go
back”. |
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Princess Stella Ezeh
(Skills Development Officer), United Kingdom
“I
am actually looking forward to relocating
back to Nigeria, I believe that there is a
lot of work to be done do to improve our
country. Having lived in a developed country
for a long time and been privileged to
travel around, I have been opportuned to see
how things work and have acquired a lot of
skills and knowledge that I believe I can
transfer to our people. I want to be one of
the people that would make that change in
Nigeria. I appreciate the fact that some the
ideas I have for Nigeria and Africa at the
moment require funding but I am working on
it”. |
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May 2007.
info@uchenworah.com.
http://thelongharmattanseason.blogspot.com/ |
