40% of highly qualified Cameroonian workforce works abroad

Cameroon is strongly hit by the brain drain, which contributes to hold back the development of the country.

Indeed, we learned on June7, 2016, during the opening of the 3rd edition of the international conference of the PK Fokam Institute for Excellence in Science and Technology, approximately 40% of the highly qualified Cameroonian workforce works abroad. Particularly in European countries and in the USA.

Putting this thesis forward during the above-mentioned conference, Lazare Kaptué, an associate Professor of Medicine who manages the Université des Montagnes, located in Western Cameroon; revealed for example that over 12,000 Cameroonian engineers work for big companies in Germany.

This export of talents is however not the prerogative of Cameroon, since it is also a reality in developed countries such as the USA, China or other developing nations such as South Korea.

“What is most interesting for a country like China, is that even while staying abroad, Chinese continue to work for their country, because they have been instilled with the value of nationalism”, Paul Kammogne Fokam explained.

Therefore, this economist and banker, who maintains that diasporas are important in the development process of their respective countries, invited Cameroonians to reclaim the value of nationalism.

According to him, this is a fundamental value to fight against the drain of talents, to contribute to the development of the origin countries.