THIS WEEK

Why must Africa lose its best people before they can become their best?

Over the weekend, some friends and I found ourselves counting people we knew who had left Africa for other countries. Doctors. Academics. Technology professionals. Engineers. Young people with extraordinary promise. At some point, we lost count.

Then someone began mentioning those preparing to leave. Again, we were losing count.

The conversation ended, but it continued in my thoughts. I kept thinking about people whose abilities we had nurtured, whose education families and countries had invested in, and whose most productive years might eventually create value somewhere else. One question would not leave me alone: Why must Africa lose some of its best people before they get the opportunity to become their best?

This is not an argument against migration. Human beings have always moved in search of opportunity, safety, knowledge and adventure. Africans should be free to do the same. Nor should we diminish the enormous contribution of the African diaspora through remittances, investment, knowledge, networks and global influence.

But we should be troubled when leaving becomes less a choice than a strategy for professional survival.

The evidence gives reason for concern. A recent study covering 42 Sub-Saharan African countries found human capital flight negatively associated with economic and social development. And the World Health Organization reported this year that nearly 46 percent of African health workers surveyed intend to migrate, driven partly by poor working conditions and limited career opportunities.

Health care exposes an even more uncomfortable contradiction. Africa has only about 46 percent of the health workers it needs, yet an estimated 943,000 trained health professionals were unemployed in 2024. We have people with skills. We have communities desperately needing those skills. Yet our systems cannot adequately employ, equip or retain enough of the people who possess them.

Perhaps we have discussed brain drain for too long as though the primary problem is that talented Africans want to leave. What if departure is sometimes feedback? What if every skilled professional who reluctantly leaves is telling us something about the environment we have created?

People do not flourish on patriotism alone. They need functioning institutions, fair compensation, professional growth, reliable infrastructure, merit, safety and the reasonable expectation that effort can lead somewhere. When another country consistently gives an African professional a better environment in which to contribute, we should not only ask why that person left. We should ask what that environment provides that ours does not.

Through my Workforce Optimisation lens, this is a continental People, Purpose and Performance question. Africa develops People and speaks boldly about its Purpose, but Performance suffers when capable people cannot find systems that allow their capabilities to flourish.

And then I asked myself another question: What can I do from my corner? I cannot redesign an entire country, but I can help build workplaces people do not constantly dream of escaping. Employers can make merit matter. Leaders can create room for capable people to contribute. Institutions can build environments where talent is recognized, challenged and rewarded.

Our political leaders have a much larger responsibility. Talent retention cannot be achieved by asking Africans to be patriotic enough to stay. It is achieved by building countries worth staying to build.

Africa will never stop its people from exploring the world, nor should it. The goal is not to keep Africans in Africa at all costs. It is to build an Africa in which staying is also an attractive choice.

Leaving should not have to be the price of becoming your best.

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“Optimize! Africa” is a weekly leadership column focused on the issues that shape Africa’s future through the lens of people, purpose, and performance. It explores themes such as leadership, workforce optimization, education, employability, organizational culture, governance, productivity, institutional effectiveness, and human capital development across the continent. The column’s initiator/author is Amara C. Ezediniru, Ph.D., a Nigerian workforce optimization strategist.