Systemic leveraging of diaspora intellectual remittances in Nigeria

THE discourse about the value of diaspora for development in Africa probably took centre stage in the early 2000s with the increasing recognition of the value and potentials of the contributions that could be made by Africans residing outside of the continent to the fortunes of their home countries in many respects and across many sectors. The positive contributions from those in the diaspora were more of what they could use out of their talents and assets for development back home. And these spanned all facets of life including finances, educational and intellectual engagements and technological advances. The idea was that all such assets could be consciously and deliberately deployed by the diaspora residents to aid development in the home countries given the reality of continuing engagement with the countries. Diaspora remittances in various forms thus came to be seen as a pivotal part of the development framework for African countries on the basis of the positive elements and spinnings inherent in such gestures. In this wise, whereas diaspora financial remittances could not be said to have directly translated into reduced poverty rates in Africa, their resulting in some level of improvements in socio-economic existence would justify acknowledging the positive impact and treating the gesture with the necessary importance and attention, as a signification of the positive effect of these remittance, even as Nigeria being the most populous country in Africa would necessarily be a major centrepoint for consideration of the workings and effect.

Our argument is that the remarked sense of importance and functional framework would and should also apply to Diaspora Intellectual Remittance (DIR), through which a large number of Nigerians working in various academic institutions across the globe, remit academically back to the country one way or another. In particular, DIR refers to the transfer of knowledge, expertise, and intellectual resources from Nigerians living abroad. It encompasses the flow of ideas, skills, and intellectual capital that individuals in the Nigerian diaspora contribute to their home country. DIR (though in an unorganized manner) has always been available since Africans began to travel abroad and return intermittently to support research and institutions. It is such that, Nigeria has had several notable Diaspora personalities whose impact in transmitting intellectual value and building Nigeria’s human capital remain noticeable and highly commendable. It is also the case that a good number of Nigerian-born scholars have over the years returned and contributed immensely to the development of African institutions. To mention but a few are the Late Prof Pius Adesanmi, Prof Toyin Falola, Prof Clement Adebamowo, and Prof. Echezona E. Ezeanolue. These well-meaning Nigerians in academia have pursued research interests, trained students, mentored young researchers and contributed to building the capacity in Nigerian institutions. Late Pius Adesanmi for instance, started the AbiolaIrele Seminar on Criticism and Theory. More so, his commitment to talent identification, maturity, and development propelled the establishment of the online forum –African Doctoral Lounge, a Facebook-based (now Meta) network with over 3000 member scholars. The efforts of the late Pius Adesanmi in constructing Pan African Humanity went deeper beyond public intellectualism. He ruptured the culture of hierarchization in academia, where senior scholars find it hard to mentor junior scholars, by linking prospective supervisors with prospective students across spaces. This contributed to fine-tuning graduate student proposals, encouraging talented students to seek further education, and, to the extent permitted by policy, taking steps to assist when these students encounter difficulties or challenges. Similarly, Professor Clement Adebamowo immensely contributed to intellectual remittance in Africa. He and his team developed internet tools, conducted public awareness and sensitivity campaigns, and provided institutions with training to improve their research ethics committee.

To be sure, the list of those with personal efforts in this regard working within institutional frameworks is inexhaustive because there are numerous scholars holding the forte in this space in their own capacities as teachers, mentors, and coaches to young people and institutions across Nigeria. In fact, there are numerous other individuals across various academic disciplines that are making significant contributions through collaborations, research partnerships, mentorship programs, and knowledge exchange, ultimately enhancing the academic landscape and driving development in Nigeria. These efforts have no doubt been significant in improving the quality of training and mentorship in Nigeria’s research and academic fronts. Yet, the point has to be made that these personal efforts would most likely be geared to and could possibly resonate into better and more sustained impact were they to be channeled and deployed in a more systemic and institutionalissd manner. We want to argue that a case could be made for a more systematic approach at the institutional level for leveraging on the positive effect of DIR for Nigerian universities.

It is in this regard that we want to call attention to the institutionalized example of diaspora intellectual remittance operating at Hallmark University, Itele-Ijebu, Ogun State Nigeria as a framework that could be adopted and adapted by Nigerians universities in furtherance of this objective. In 2022/2023, the management of the institution, alongside Prof. Obatunde Bright Adetola, Drs. Isaac Adedeji (Simon Fraser University, Canada), Samuel Fasanmi (Blackburn College University of Bradford, Bradford, England, United Kingdom) and Sunday Adejare (The University of Calgary, Canada), created a Diaspora Remittance Network to train, teach and mentor undergraduate students of the University starting with the Department of Sociology. These are scholars and researchers who took up teaching roles – pro-bono – at the University and would meet with undergraduate students of the Department through online platforms to teach, and mentor the students. These scholars also assessed and graded students; with the model now being gradually expanded to cover other departments in the University. This model of institutionalised Diaspora Intellectual Remittance evidently has the potential of providing a platform for a more sustained and sustainable and ratable and measurable framework for deploying and assessing and evaluating the contributions and effect of DIR in concerned and adopting universities, this especially as the idea and its implementation have started to yield immense results for the scholars, students, and the University.

Hallmark University has even taken things a notch up by moving from the traditional research and linkages system of Nigerian Universities to create a Diaspora Intellectual Remittances Office to further solidify the systemic leveraging canvassed here. Some of the envisaged and noticeable outgrowths of this development include the more sustainable and measurable transfer of knowledge and expertise, academic collaboration and research, brain gain and brain circulation, philanthropy and social development as well as the repositioning of Nigerian educational system for global recognition.

In the last analysis, it has to be stated that Diaspora Intellectual Remittance would continue to play a vital role in harnessing the knowledge, skills, and expertise of Nigerians and Africans living abroad for the benefit of their home country. Thus, academic leaders in various fields would need to step out to provide quality leadership driven by the need to remit knowledge back to the system, which would ineluctably contribute to and have strong impact on the development process in the country, with institutions encouraged to put in place the instititionaised framework and platform for this purpose. Also, Individuals and organisations are to be encouraged to buy-in into the process so as to fill the gap created by the brain drain syndrome affecting developing nations now. Their buy-in could be in the form of provision of support amenities that would assist the regular supply of power and internet access to allow for uninterrupted academic communication in teaching and research, between the teachers and the learners. By facilitating the transfer of these diaspora intellectual resources along this institutionalised manner, Nigeria could then harness the potential of its diaspora community more purposely and purposively to drive socio-economic development, foster innovation, and strengthen human capital.

• Dr. Adedeji is of Simon Fraser University, Canada and Professor Adetola is Dean of Faculty of Management and Social Sciences at Hallmark University, Nigeria.

 

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