Somewhere in a modest Abuja office, Oladoyin Odubanjo pauses before answering a question. His eyes reflect a blend of urgency and quiet alarm, not about roads or inflation, but about something more intangible yet far more consequential: the steady departure of Nigeria’s scientific talent.
“It’s no longer just doctors and nurses,” Odubanjo tells me, leaning forward. “Researchers, our scientists, innovators, and early-career scholars are leaving too. And every one that goes is a blow to Nigeria’s future.”
In recent years, Nigerians have become all too familiar with the phrase “Japa” a colloquial term for leaving the country in search of better prospects abroad. While much of the conversation has centred on health workers and engineers, an overlooked wave is rippling through the nation’s science and research ecosystem: a brain drain that could reshape Nigeria’s intellectual landscape for decades.
A Quiet Exodus Beyond Hospitals
The statistics are stark. Beyond the well-publicised departure of thousands of medical professionals, estimates suggest more than 16,000 doctors have sought opportunities overseas in recent years, figures from various professional bodies show tens of thousands of laboratory scientists and allied researchers moving abroad for greener pastures. Many are heading to the United Kingdom, United States, Canada and other research centres with better funding and infrastructure.
“People think science happens just because people want it,” Odubanjo says, shaking his head. “But it needs infrastructure, certainty, and resources. When a young researcher can’t get funding on time or can’t afford fieldwork because of bureaucratic bottlenecks, that person starts looking elsewhere.”
The Cost of Losing Talent
The exodus of research talent doesn’t just leave laboratories quiet; it erodes Nigeria’s capacity to solve its own problems. Scientific progress thrives on collaboration, mentorship between seasoned academics and emerging scholars, continuity in long-term projects, and environments where experimentation is encouraged rather than stifled.
“When we lose one researcher, we lose years of potential discoveries,” says Odubanjo. “We lose mentors for the next generation. We lose innovators who might have unlocked solutions to diseases, agricultural challenges, or climate adaptation here at home.”
Research grants, once awarded, often become trapped in administrative systems like the Treasury Single Account (TSA), where accessing funds becomes a bureaucratic odyssey. Odubanjo explains that such hurdles, combined with delayed fieldwork, stalled data collection and a scarcity of support, drive young scientists to environments that value speed, flexibility, and autonomy.
A Glimmer of Hope and Hard Reality
There are signs that policymakers are listening. Recent reforms aimed at easing the constraints of federal financial systems and speeding up research funding could eventually ease some pressure. But such technical fixes important as they are, may not be enough without a broader cultural shift toward valuing science as a bedrock of national progress.
What remains undeniable is this: as long as Nigeria’s talent continues to flow outward in search of dignity, opportunity, and support, the country forfeits more than a paycheck, it forfeits its intellectual future.
