Experts ring alarm bells over growing "brain drain"

An official governmental report on the migration of the Sudanese cadres painted a bleak picture of the country’s present and future economy, sounding the alarm bell over the huge increases in the numbers of skillful manpower cadres who migrate outside the country, saying the trend is severely hurting the economy.

The report, which was released by the ministry of labor on Monday pointed out that the migration rate has jumped this year to 75,631 people with the majority being of medical and technical professions, revealing that the number of doctors who migrated outside the country in the last five years is 5028 while 1002 technicians also left, mostly in 2012.

The report said the biggest challenge to the government is the migration of medical and scientific specialists after its rate reached 14,407.

According to Sudan Tribune, the trend was confirmed three days ago when 12 prominent medical specialists from the faculty of medicine at the University of Khartoum tendered their resignations in order to migrate. The ministry of health in Khartoum State said that the migration of medical work force represents a catastrophe, attributing it to the economic crisis in the country.

In the same context, many experts warned of the growing brain drain phenomenon, pointing out that the country is facing a high rate of brain drain as professionals leave in search of better lives overseas.

In a workshop hosted by the Cognitive Enlightenment Center entitled (The Sudanese Family and Society), professor of sociology, Wigdan Al-Tijani estimated the proportion of universities’ professors who left the country recently, to more than two-thirds of the total number.

Al-Tijani revealed in her paper several problems facing Sudanese immigrants, saying that in the forefront of these problems is the loss of identity as a result of struggles that often erupt between homeland and diaspora, as well as the increasing number of divorce cases as a result of harsh working conditions that prevent them from accompanying their wives.

The Sudanese minister of human resources, Amna Dirar, said in a report she presented on Monday to the council of states that the reasons for increases in the rate of migration ranged from low wages to lack of employment opportunities and their abundance in the countries to which Sudanese skilled force migrate.

According to the minister’s report, the rate of migration reached its peak in 2012 with 75631 Sudanese leaving the country compared with 10032 migrants in 2008. This is a %654 increase in just five years, the minister warned.

The minister’s report pointed out that the biggest recipients of Sudanese work force is Saudi Arabia with a 91 percent of those who migrated in the last five years, followed by UAE with 3.5 percent. The report also pointed out that in the last five years, most of those who migrated are technicians (58,484), followed by farmers and herder (54100).

Dirar warned that the migration of medical specialists and technicians is a great loss to the economy and has the most severe impact on development.

Commenting on the minister’s report, a member of the council of states called on the government to accelerate the process of peace-making in the country saying that many Sudanese have left because of armed conflicts.

Meanwhile, another expert, Dr.Hassan Bashir Mohamed Nour wrote an article on Sudan Nile Website, arguing that what is happening in Sudan is a case of mass escape that similar to the migration and displacement in the time of disasters. Pointing out that the migration is occurred without thinking.  “When the doors open -in many cases- the escape occurs first and then thinking of a solution that may succeed or fail and throws their rider into the unknown”.  He added.

In the light of the current debate being held nowadays on the issue of the recent wave of migration, Nour said that many questions can be raised here such as: who migrates? And to where? What are the positive and negative economic and social effects of the migration on the country?

The expert pointed out that the phenomenon cannot be considered as a normal since there is confusion and generalization in the nature of migration and its effects, as well as the disguising of the real reasons behind the phenomenon, therefore the recent wave of migration cannot be subjected to the economies changes that are internationally recognized.