‘Brain Drain’ (Unedited) by KJ
- Posted on:
- October 13, 2004 at midnight
- Trackback:
- http://es-africa.com/articles/trackback/brain-drain-unedited-kj/
- Posted in:
- MBCstories
-----Original Message----- From: KJ Sent: Monday, October 22, 2001 8:14 PM To: law.fej Subject: RE: [LawFej_Pallys] RE: [umunna] Fwd: African "Brain Drain" My only question to all your very eloquent friends is a personal one. If "brain-drain" exists even if not as much as Europe or Asia - when do each of you intend on coming home. I mean there is but so much talk that can be done. I'd like to see some action and soon. I mean I have stayed abreast of the various e-mail discussions between the "umunna" or "Marketplace1" groups. However, it's become almost pre-dictable as to what will be discussed and more so whether it will be positive or negative. And I must tell you that more times than none (75% of the time) it has been negative. Anyway, I actually see (at least in Nigeria) more of a renaissance. People our age are realising that they have an embeded value that can only be realised if they return home. I mean I'll go on the edge here and use myself as an example. I was doing very well in the states working on Wall Street and everything but all I could afford was a 2 bedroom in Jersey City and a 4yr old tokunbo. I move to Lagos last year and now eat grreat food everyday, don't have to take crap from oyinbos, live in Lekki (equivalent to the upper east side) in an estate with 4 generators, 2 tennis courts, swimming pool, squash courts, a water purification system (which means it's safe to drink water straight from the tap) and I'm only a 12 minute walk away from the estate's private beach. I mean I'm still suffering in my own way - I don't earn dollars, don't make that much naira on any relative scale,... - however, I feel on the whole like my value went up. that's because there is no place like home. Gotta go now but please try to leave asap and JUST COME HOME. Law Fej wrote: October 23, 2001 My People: Here's some good talk -real good talk - from a very good friend back home. Unlike many of us (and I accuse myslef as probably #1 on that list) who constantly engage in the intellectual excursions of theorizing, postulating and hypothesizing -- he engages in none of that. These are reflections/observations from a real-time experiment. Read it and take some time to ponder. There are two responses he sent me --one yesterday, one today; with his permission I am forwarding them to you. Also take no offence, if he is at times brutally frank-- candor may be bitter - but many atimes it presents the noble path. Enjoy! LawFej P.S. I strongly suggest you print this out and read it. KJ wrote: From: KJ Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2001 10:36:26 +0100 Subject: PLease COME HOME!!! To: law_fej Ø Lawfej, How now? Even though I had a lot more to say you can send it if you want. The point is that it's time for most of these your umumna friends to come home. They've finished school and have gotten great experience. If they stay any longer, it will be like the law of diminishing returns. It's like when you go to a club during happy hour and overstay till the 3 or 4 in the morning. if your a guy the babes go see you finish and you go de like furniture for dem eye. A true mack would show up at 1a.m when the party is live and enthusiasm is in the air and he'll be out by 2.15 with a little something to take home. So please make una no turn into furniture for America. For the only thing left for any of you to achieve is just getting into more debt. Believe me that's the last thing ya'll need. Last time I checked majority of you still have student loans outstanding from overpriced undergraduate education and that's not to mention B School and your outlandish lifestyle. But you my ask, "Who am I to talk?" Well your right I too have my own fair share of debt to pay back but at least now that I no longer live in the states, I will not be creating ant "new" debt. Can somebuddy say AMEN to that. i mean the September 11th incident was terrible and all but I was kind of hoping that my car loan from EAB would have imploded along side the world trade centre. But I wasn't so lucky the bastards were bought by Citibank just a few months ago and you know Citibank has at least 102 countries to back-up data. On a serious note, I know that timing is everything and my time was last year. For you it there may still be something that you want to get out of the US. And that is fine. But I know you all are so good at planning everything - perfect school for your decipline, job search, bschool,...So when will you plan to come home? Sounds simple but unlike most of the other topics you guys eloquently discuss for days this is a really simple question and should not have an elongated answer. Try to set a timeframe and plan for coming home. We need you all here. And whatever you think you're worth right now because of some fancy job with some bs title like "Vice President of MA at Goldman Sachs" is just a fraction of you're real worth. I mean I don't mean to be rude but it's true. I recognize each of your successes and ask that you just realize it's true exponencial value by coming home. I know of this girl (actually she's a babe cause she's real fine) who came home after practising cosmetic surgery for a while in London. Anyway, i hear thaat she's doing breast jobs, slight face lifts, nose jobs...and charging dollars too. She's good (just like all of you ) and comes well recommended. I meean she may have been making a salary of (I don't know) $200k working for someone but if she also has a good business sence, she could bring back a couple more surgeons, do more surgeries and make more money all right here in Naija. Since she is still running a monopoly, it turns out that you can't just go in there and come out without at least a $7k bill for really minor stuff. That's an example of being a queen in you're own kningdom. There are a lot of things going on and none of it is brain taxing atall. These are things that they've been doing abroad for decades but is still new to Nigerians. The truth is not to ponder on the coming back issue for too long. Like Nike says "Just Do It". And that's what I did. If I had overanalysed my current meager salary versus my various options I would probably still be there (like you) accumulating debt. I mean I was contemplating a year abroad with SSB (Salomon Smith Barney) either in London or in Honkong. I would have been clearly over the 100k mark + they promised an expatriate type package - reduced taxes, subsidised housing... There were also countless oportunities if I had decided to stay in the states. I was really interested in moving out of NY for a better standard of living. I had done the Manhattan thing (in the East Village overlooking the East River). I had later on moved to Jersey to save on rent and decided to buy a car. That was a little better but things were still tight and I couldn't figure out why. Almost all my collegues lived in
Comments are closed for this Post.