Brain drain worsens as thousands of Nigerian engineers trained with public funds migrate, weakening national growth, warns AfDB’s Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka
Nigeria is facing a deepening brain drain crisis as thousands of highly trained engineers and technical professionals leave the country for better opportunities abroad.
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Senior Special Adviser to the African Development Bank President on Industrialisation, Professor Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka, raised the alarm at the anniversary of the Department of Chemical Engineering, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.
He lamented the collapse of Nigeria’s once-proud academic institutions, noting that the decay in infrastructure and poor funding have led to a loss of knowledge and innovation capacity.
According to him, engineers educated with public resources are now strengthening foreign economies, while Nigeria’s industries remain undeveloped.
“Thousands of engineers trained at public expense are now scattered across the globe, serving foreign economies while Nigeria’s own industries remain rudderless,” he said.
Oyelaran-Oyeyinka blamed decades of neglect in education, research and industrial policy for the situation.
He warned that without urgent reforms to rebuild universities and modernise research, Nigeria will continue to lose its most valuable minds.
He described the country’s knowledge systems as disorganised and poorly aligned with industrial needs, contrasting Nigeria’s situation with countries in Asia that have built strong economies on science and innovation.
Describing it as a “real resource curse,” he warned that the erosion of intellectual capital is even more dangerous than dependence on raw material exports.
“We must not be the generation that watched our nation crumble. We must be the generation that stood up and said, let us rebuild the wall,” he added.
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The AfDB adviser’s remarks have reignited concerns over the mass exit of professionals from Nigeria, a phenomenon that continues to deprive the country of skilled manpower essential for development.
