The visiting American billionaire, Bill Gates, has agreed with the position of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, on the growing exodus of Nigerian professionals in search of greener pasture, popularly known as ‘Japa’.
Obi had said in 2021 when the lawmakers were debating on stopping Nigeria doctors from moving abroad, that stopping them is not a good option because the brain drain today will be brain gain tomorrow
The American billionaire Bill Gates concurred, saying it’s healthy for the country.
Obi in a tweet on Thursday said that he had always maintained the position and cannot agree less with “Bill Gates’s recent comment on the “Japa” syndrome, where, according to reports, he stated that the recent surge of Nigerian professionals leaving the country for greener pastures is good and healthy for our country”
Obi who also took the same stand during the presidential campaign said that he had
“always preached and maintained this same position on the “japa wave”.
“For years now, and throughout my campaign in the last presidential election, especially during my tours from Canada, the USA, Germany, the UK, and other countries.
“I maintained that our brain drain today will be our brain gain tomorrow.
“Nigerians leaving the country may look like a loss today, but when we start doing the right things and taking the governance of our nation more seriously, the knowledge and resources from them will be critical in the building of the new Nigeria, as it happened in China, India, Ireland, and other developing countries”.
The former Anambra state Governor noted that “today, India prides itself as one of the countries with the biggest tech talents in the world, having produced some of the world’s top engineers and computer scientists.
“Many top global tech companies are headed by CEOs of Indian origin.
“So India’s success in the tech industry can partly be attributed to its ability to harness the knowledge and resources of Indians in the diaspora for their national growth”.
The Labour standard bearer said optimistically, that “Nigeria will grow and develop on all fronts when we build the New Nigeria that prioritizes investment in education, health, and support for small businesses, guarantees respect for the rule of law, security of lives and properties, and unity of the nation”.
And after “our diasporan Nigerians around the world will return home with their global training, skills, and resources, to immeasurably contribute to building a New and better Nigeria”, adding, “we will not give up on our dreams for the New Nigeria”.
