Ukpong Canvasses Balanced Approach to Brain Drain

Funmi Ogundare
Vice President, Global Services, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Uwem Ukpong, has called for a balanced national approach to Nigeria’s brain drain debate, stressing that while Nigerians abroad contribute significantly through remittances, deliberate efforts must also be made to create opportunities that will encourage skilled professionals to return home.

Ukpong, who made this call at a private reception hosted by the Board of Trustees (BoT) of I-scholar Initiative (iSI) in Lagos, addressed concerns about whether Nigerian scholars trained abroad would eventually come back to contribute to national development.

According to him, the conversation around overseas education and migration must recognise the enormous value already being created by Nigerians in the Diaspora, who repatriate over $20 billion annually into the Nigerian economy.

“We should not negate the fact that Nigerians in the Diaspora repatriate over $20 billion every year to Nigeria,” he said.

“These funds go into banks, support lending, and help drive economic activity.”

However, Ukpong who also serves as a board member of the I- Scholar Initiative (ISI), emphasised that financial remittances alone are not enough. He stated that Nigeria must also intentionally create pathways for highly skilled Nigerians abroad to return and contribute their expertise locally.

 “The question should not be whether we prioritise remittances or returnees. “We should focus on both, but for people to come back and succeed, the right opportunities must exist.”

He explained the ISI programme which supports Nigerian students to access world-class education abroad is still in its early stages, making it too soon to fully measure long-term return and impact.

He warned that without deliberate efforts to create viable opportunities at home, many beneficiaries may choose to remain overseas.
“If you don’t create opportunities for these students here in Nigeria, they are not going to come back,” Ukpong said. “That is just the reality.”
While acknowledging that opportunities do exist in Nigeria, he stressed that they must be expanded and better supported, particularly through collaboration between government and the private sector.

He recalled his background in technology, saying that Nigeria’s growing startup ecosystem, the largest in Africa, as evidence of what is possible when innovation is supported.
“People are creating opportunities for themselves,” he said.
“But government also has a role to play in fostering industries and enabling growth,” he added.

On the performance of the ISI programme, Ukpong disclosed that recent application cycles attracted over 4,200 applicants for just 400 available slots, emphasising on both the quality of Nigerian talent and the scale of unmet demand.

The vice president said the programme could be significantly expanded with increased funding and more volunteers willing to mentor students and guide them through rigorous application and preparation processes.

Ukpong added that one of the programme’s most encouraging outcomes is the positive perception Nigerian students continue to earn globally.

 “Universities see Nigerians as very smart people,” he said. “This programme helps project Nigeria in a positive light, beyond what is often reported in the media.”
Speaking with journalists, the Chairman, Board of Trustees Chairman of ISI, Tolu Ewherido, explained that the organisation operates a rigorous, bias-conscious selection process designed to ensure fairness, gender balance and merit in the award of its scholarships.

She added that Nigeria has no shortage of global-ready talent, noting that ISI deliberately audits its selection outcomes to reflect the demographic makeup of its applicant pool, particularly in terms of gender representation.
According to her, “if women make up 33 per cent of applicants in a given year, the organisation expects a similar proportion in its final list of scholars. Where discrepancies appear, ISI reviews the process and, in some cases, asks interviewers to reassess candidates to ensure unconscious bias has not influenced decisions.

“Our goal is equal opportunity,” Ewherido said. “We go back and test the results. If the data shows a skew, we revisit the interviews to ensure that bias is not filtering into the process and that the final cohort truly represents the original talent pool.”
She noted that scholars rarely drop out due to academic failure, adding that withdrawals are often voluntary and reflect the integrity of beneficiaries.
Some scholars, she said, have relinquished ISI-funded slots after securing alternative sponsorships abroad, requesting that the opportunity be passed to other deserving candidates.
On conversion rates, the chairman said ISI aims to help every admitted scholar secure fully funded international scholarships, achieving an average success rate of about 80 per cent annually. While the organisation continues to support others, some candidates eventually opt out after several years to pursue alternative career paths.

 “We keep supporting them for as long as they want us to,” he said. “But some adults decide, after trying for a couple of years, to move on. And that’s okay.”

On sustainability, Ewherido said ISI’s current model, supporting about 100 scholars annually, is stable, backed by committed corporate partners and individual sponsors.

She added that governance has also been strengthened, with alumni now actively involved in running the organisation.
Also speaking, a geologist with ExxonMobil and president of ISI, Victor Ogunmola, explained the initiative was founded in 2019 out of personal life experiences and a strong desire to build a solution-driven society by investing in the career aspirations of smart, self-motivated young Nigerians.

According to him, ISI was created to address the wide disconnect between thousands of talented Nigerian youths and access to opportunities that can place them on a sustainable upward trajectory.

 “Across Nigeria, you have thousands, if not millions of young people who are deserving of opportunity,” Ogunmola said.

“Opportunities exist globally, but there is a gap that needs to be bridged. ISI exists to identify that talent and connect it to opportunity.”
He noted that ISI runs a rigorous and highly competitive selection process to identify outstanding candidates, whom it supports by funding standardised tests such as the GRE and TOEFL, key requirements not only for admission but also for securing international funding.

Each selected scholar, the president stated, is also paired with a mentor who provides one-on-one guidance throughout the graduate school application process.

“Since its inception, ISI has supported 455 scholars, investing about $400,000 in standardised test fees, application costs, visa support and other logistics.

“This investment has yielded significant returns, with beneficiaries gaining admission into top institutions abroad on scholarships valued at over $17 million,” Ogunmola stressed.