1265 



drainees and thus ultimately strengthening the resources of scientific 

 manpower in the LDCs.^®° 



Imperatives of National Science Policy. — Achieving national devel- 

 opment through science and technology is clearly a complicated and 

 burdensome task for the LDCs. The requirements are demanding: the 

 area for compromise, limited. Instructive are the imperatives of na- 

 tional science policy in recommendations by the 1964 Lagos Confer- 

 ence of African States on the Organization of Research and Training 

 in Africa. Sponsored by UNESCO, the Conference compiled a list 

 of imperatives that could be guiding principles applicable to all LDCs. 

 They suggest the dimension of the tasks that lie ahead for the LDCs 

 in their quest for national development gains through the use of sci- 

 ence and technology : 



"^ The Indian Government supports a retrieval program called the "Scientists Pool 

 Scheme." Over a period of 9 years it succeeded in hrinelne back 2,300 scientists and 

 other professionals to India. (''Scientific Manpower in India, Development Digest 7 (April 

 1969), pp. 69-73). Dr. Kldd explained the success of Argentina's repatriation proRrani : 

 ". . . It is feasible, as Argentina has demonstrated, to mount a repatriation pro-am 

 aimed particularly at this key sepment. not the ordinary, practicing physician or ensrfneer 

 who comes un liere to make a better living ; but this small, crucial groun of people w-ho 

 can energize the universities, the research Institutes, and governmental oflBces and activi- 

 ties. There. I think, although it won't solve the basic economic and cultural and govern- 

 mental problems, selected and directed repatriation can, as lias been demonstrated in 

 Agentina, bring people back." (Department of State, Proceedinpg of Workshop on the 

 International Miqration of Talent and Skills, October 1966, p. 137). Efforts to retrieve 

 professionals, particularly students studying in the United States, are described by Habih 

 Naflcy in "Brain Drain : The Case of Iranian Xnn-Returnees." op. cit., p. 71 and Michael 

 W. Suleiman, in "Repatriation of Arnh Elites." on. cit., pp. 71.-80. On Feb. 6, 1973. ABC 

 Evening News (7:00 o'clock) i^-lth Howard K. Smith and Harry Reasoner broadcast a 

 report from Peter Jennings In Jordan in which he indicated that Hasan, the younger 

 brother of Hussein, is an intellectual : that he headed the Jordanian Academy of Sciences : 

 and that over the years he has made a determined effort to bring modern technology to 

 Jordan. One aspect of his program has been to reclaim lost Jordanians who came to the 

 T'nited States for education, received their advanced degrees and stayed on as brain 

 drainees. Many have returned, because of Hasan's efforts, Jennings reported, and now 

 constitute what Jennings referred to as Hasan's "brain trust" for the modern develop- 

 ment of Jordan. 



Nigeria Is undertaking what appears to be a far-reaching program to retrieve some of 

 its brain drain losses to the United States. A press report from Lagos, Nigeria in mid- 

 February 1974 Indicated than an official Nigerian delegation was touring several American 

 cities (New York. Washington, Chicago. Miami, Atlanta, Los Angeles and San Francisco) 

 to inform Nigerlan.s about job opportunities back home. The delegation, led by the federal 

 Commissioner for Economic Development and Reconstruction, Prof. Adebayo Adedejl, is 

 the latest of Nigeria's efforts to con\'lnce students and graduates that they should return 

 home. Nigerian officials estimate that there were probably 5,000 to 10,000 Nigerians living 

 in the United States who intended to remain. In the past, several appeals have been made 

 and, from time to time, small numbers returned home.. The brain drain problem Is 

 esnecially acute In Nigeria because, as the pre«s account pnt it, of the "dire shortage of 

 skilled Nieerians to mnn i^s hoomine. oil-bnsed economy." J. O. Oche. Information officer 

 for the National Youth Service Corps, and a member of the touring delegation said : 

 "Their physical presence In Nigeria and their assistance to their people Is most necessary 

 at this stage of our development." 



The delegiation was expected to meet many Nigerians holding professional positions In 

 business, industry and education. But. as this study indicates in citing the causal factors 

 for immigration, the Nigerians face three problems : a large number of their drainees 

 have married American women ; some are Ibos who sided with Blafra during the civil 

 war and are not convinced by the manv reports of recnrienifition that thev would bf wel- 

 comed back In Nigeria: and others fear that their skills developed In the United States 

 cannot be put to proper use in Nigeria. 



More than any other black African nation, Nigeria, large and populous, has in recent 

 years given a major priority to training Its own professionals at home. Plans have been 

 made to add university spaces, and predictions have been made that within a decade a 

 system of teaching hospitals and petroleum institutes will educate all but the most special- 

 ized doctors and engineers. The proudest claim during the recent 25th anniversary cele- 

 brations of the University of Ibadan, founded in 1948. was that It had provided much of 

 the skilled mannower now functioning in Nigerian Government and industry. The T'nl- 

 versity has produced about half of Nigeria's 2.000 doctors and three-fourths of Its 4,140 

 educators and administrators. (Thomas A. .Johnson, "Nigeria Tries to Lure Graduates 

 Home," The 'Kew York Times, Feb. 17, 1974. pp. 1 and 5.) 



-Vn indication of donor country efforts to retrieve emigrant professionals Is shown In a 

 mld-1970 survey by the National Science Foundation of some 8,000 alien scientists and 

 enfflneers who were permanent U.S. residents In January 1969. According to the survev. 

 "fully 37 percent . . ., had been contacted by foreign employers for remigration." (NSF. 

 Sititdu of Characteristics and Attitudes of Immigrant Scie>itists and Engineers in the 

 U.S., 1973, p. vii.) 



