Stay or Leave? What should African International Students do after graduation?

I was a participant in a debate held at the University of Toronto, Mississauga. It was the yearly academic debate hosted by The Erindale Campus African Student’s association where other ASAs from other Canadian universities in the Ontario province were invited, 10 of which were in attendance.

I was a supporting speaker along with David Amos; the Chief speaker and Abijah Nwakanma, a supporting speaker. Here’s our stance on one of the topics…

We’ve heard of stories where African parents send their kids on a mission to school and settle abroad because according to them, there’s nothing for them back home where they’re from. While we don’t blame them for thinking that way, we do think however that they are wrong. Our position on the topic before us is that upon graduation, the African international student should leave Canada and return home. Why? Because there is no greater hope for Africa than the congregation of her great minds, enlightened youth and the potential locked away in her future, you and I. While our effort is not to demonize our Co-debater’s position or anyone’s choice to stay after graduation, our concern is with impressing on you the need to accept a far greater challenge, a far greater honor and a far greater Call of Duty. This duty, honor and sacrifice is what we owe our continent as sons and daughters of the soil.

In 2010, there were over 116,000 international students enrolled in Canadian Universities. By 2012 that number rose to over 260,000 and in January of 2014 the federal government announced plans to raise that figure to over 450,000 across all levels of education by 2022. In the same announcement, the federal government committed to preventing brain drain by making it easier for international students to obtain permanent residency. We want everyone present here today to realize that the prevention of the brain drain from Canada by the retention of international students necessarily translates into the facilitation of the brain drain from places like Africa. As an African, your decision to stay after graduation for whatever reason is your conscious, active contribution to sapping your continent dry of its best and brightest minds.

After doing such, what right do you have to complain about economies that are badly mismanaged when you have refused to submit your intellect in the service of your continent? What right do you have to feel at peace and sleep in cozy warm beds when your kinsmen die of hunger and cold without shelter or the security of a social safety net?

What right do you have to abuse corrupt public officials when you are freely and consciously choosing to extort Africa’s future from her much like it was taken 400 years ago through slavery? Such theft is not ordinary no, it is diabolical. Isn’t there greater virtue in proving wrong those who think all Africans ride lions in transit and cannot possibly know who Beyoncé is by choosing to build up your continent to the point where that kind of ignorance is no longer acceptable?

You are not safe if you think choosing to nestle thousands of miles away excludes you from the suffering and the hardships of the human experience at home. We do not bring them up to make light of these situations, but a few months ago, we saw how acts of terror motivated by ISIS in the middle east were perpetuated right on Canadian soil. Ebola, as we saw, reached the United States. These events prove that the world’s problems are increasingly universal. Every threat is global and if you think you can choose to ignore Africa’s problems in the interest of building a life for yourself where things like terrorism and Ebola will not disturb your serenity, think again.

The Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development released a study in 2012 that reported that each International student at the university level spent an average of $33,000 annually with total expenditure by these students going well over $4 Billion. Total tax revenue made from international students was $397 million and 70,000 jobs were created by the international student education sector. GDP contribution by this sector in 2010 was $4.9Billion.

The question to ask is, does the Canadian government or any other foreign government invest that much in you, and how?  Is it by turning a blind eye and allowing Universities do whatever they like with how much u pay for tuition? By creating a system that is always going to discriminate against you financially when you get nothing special back in return? Did you know that while universities are only allowed to increase domestic fees by 3-5% every year, there is no limit to how much they can increase int’l fees and that is why we hear of universities increasing int’l fees by as much as 11% every year.

In a one on one interview with a Mississauga mayoral candidate, we spoke about how we can push the campaign to reduce int’l student fees. Her response was that the issue doesn’t carry political weight, which means that there are no political gains from tabling the issue on the floor of council. Essentially, because int’l students are not a voting constituency, issues most important to them will not be politically advantageous enough for any politician. So the Canadian government, after sucking your blood dry, draining taxes out of you and using you to grow the economy will not look into your situation unless it also has added political benefits?  So why stay?

The question before us is more than just a debate question, it is a moral question. The average African international student would cite poor health-care, corruption, lack of opportunities for upward social mobility and a failed political system as some of the reasons why going back to settle in Africa is not an option and they cannot be blamed for making this claim. Who wouldn’t choose to live in a society with a steady supply of power where the rule of law is upheld above all? The reality is that there are a thousand reasons why going back is essentially a death sentence but today we are arguing that, that is precisely why we have an obligation, a duty to go back. Time and time again we hear a lot of us making statements like ‘I want a better life for myself and my family here in Canada but I’m going to contribute to charity’. The truth is, Africa needs more than charity, the continent needs more than just your monetary donations from 5000 miles away. The question we need to ask ourselves is why are we afraid to go back?

In the heat of the campaign to bring back the over 200 girls that Boko Haram militants kidnapped in northern Nigeria, so many Nigerians in diaspora had something to say on the issue, ASAs and NSAs lent their voices to the growing calls for the decisive action to be taken. But like it or not, we all have an obligation to not just be a voice from across the ocean for those girls but to sacrifice our time, energy and physical presence so that African girls and women do not continue to be victims of targeted violence. The same goes for everyone that actively joined in that campaign. All that activism means nothing if you cannot afford to put your actions and money where your hashtags and retweets were. Your continent needs you and that is your call of duty.