Key Highlights
- Bill Gates said the recent surge in the number of young professionals leaving the country for greener pastures is good and healthy for the country.
- Gates said he does not believe that no one should go away, noting that completely blocking people from leaving is not a healthy thing.
Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist, Bill Gates, has explained that the japa syndrome is good and healthy for Nigeria as he weighed in on the recent surge in the number of young Nigerian professionals leaving the country for greener pastures.
This was made known by Bill Gates on Wednesday, June 21, 2023, while addressing a question during an interactive session with innovators on ‘Advancing Africa: Unleashing the Power of Youth in Science and Innovation’ held in Lagos State.
Bill Gates said having a big diaspora that includes people coming back into business and government is a very healthy thing.
What the Microsoft co-founder is saying
- Bill Gates said, “In a sense, people leaving is a good thing, if you up the amount of training you’re doing. So you say okay, some of our doctors can go get a very high salary in the UK, the US, some of them will pay to their family broadly and some of them will return.
- “So having a big diaspora that includes people coming back into business, into government – that’s a very healthy thing. There are some cases like in medical education were subsidized by the government, you almost wish that a little bit of that resource you get overseas would help the government increase the training. Because otherwise and we see today a significant shortage in some of those skills.’’
- He added, “But I’m not someone who believes that no one should go away or that blocking that completely is a healthy thing.’’
Getting the balance is super healthy
Pointing out the similarities Nigeria shares with India and China in the export of talent, he highlighted that “many” innovative immigrant doctors had spent some time in the UK and the US as part of their training.
- The philanthropist said, ‘’But certainly India and China and I’ll say Nigeria is third on this list, this idea that people go away and do great work but then they come back, if you get that balance and figure out the education funding piece of that, that is a super healthy thing in computer science, in health, in business and other areas.’’
Credit: Nairametrics