Two-third Nigerian professionals willing to work abroad, says report

Nearly two-thirds of Nigerian professionals and three-quarters of Ghanaian professionals are willing to work abroad, a new report by Boston Consulting Group and The Network has shown.

The report, Decoding Global Talent 2024, surveyed over 150,000 workers in 188 countries and found that younger professionals and those from fast-growing populations were more likely to seek opportunities abroad.

English-speaking countries with strong economies, such as Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, were the top destinations, with London and New York ranking among the most desirable cities.

The report stated that Nigeria ranked 67th and Ghana 72nd in terms of attractiveness to global workers, while Abuja and Lagos ranked 63rd and 103rd, respectively, in terms of desired cities.

“The world’s most important economies are facing a major challenge: the great shortage of people. This looming gap in the global labour market is primarily due to declining birth rates and mismatches between job supply and demand,” said the CEO of Stepstone Group, Sebastian Dettmers.

“Labour migration represents a prime opportunity to bridge this gap. We must adapt our job markets to be more versatile, enabling workers to move to where they are most needed and where they can find the best positions for their skills and aspirations.”

The top 10 countries Nigerians prefer to work abroad for are Canada, the UK, the USA, Australia, Germany, the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, and France.

This marks a slight change from the survey done in 2020 that found that people from Nigeria were looking for work in the Netherlands (8th position in 2020), New Zealand (9th position in 2020), and Ireland (10th position in 2020).

Ghanaians’ top 10 countries for work opportunities are Canada, the USA, the UK, Australia, Germany, the UAE, Finland, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Belgium.

The Principal at BCG, Adwoa Banful, stated, “West Africa continues to offer attractive job opportunities for local professionals and for others from the rest of the continent and overseas, who are seeking to advance their careers.

“There are some clear reasons why people are choosing to relocate to Nigeria and Ghana, most notably the quality of job opportunities, and the region’s welcoming culture and family-centric environment.”

According to the report, global talent moves abroad primarily for professional progress, with those willing to do so citing financial and economic reasons (64 per cent of global, 60 per cent of Nigerian, and 69 per cent of Ghanaian respondents).

Also, career considerations such as work experience (56 per cent of global, 69 per cent of Nigerian, and 73 per cent of Ghanaian respondents), better overall life quality (55 per cent of global, 51 per cent of Nigerian and 57 per cent of Ghanaian respondents), and a concrete job offer (54 per cent of global, 51 per cent of Nigerian and 50 per cent of Ghanaian respondents) were their top reasons for doing so.

Nigerian respondents also highlighted better educational and training opportunities (64 per cent versus 37 per cent of global respondents) and more interesting or challenging work (63 per cent versus 48 per cent of global respondents) as top reasons to relocate.

The same goes for Ghanaian respondents who would relocate because of better educational and training opportunities (70 per cent ) and more interesting or challenging work (68 per cent).

“For global respondents who listed a specific reason for choosing a particular country, the quality of job opportunities was the top decisive factor (65 per cent), with quality of life and climate ranking second (54 per cent).

“Other country-specific characteristics, such as opportunities for citizenship (18 per cent) and health care (15 per cent) also play a role but are secondary factors,” the report highlighted.

Reasons to relocate to Nigeria that were highlighted by respondents include the quality of job opportunities (52 per cent of respondents), a family-friendly environment (40 per cent), and a welcoming culture and inclusiveness (34 per cent).

Reasons for choosing Ghana include quality of job opportunities (48 per cent of respondents), a welcoming culture and inclusiveness (40 per cent), and safety, stability and security (38 per cent).

“The biggest reasons highlighted by Nigerian and Ghanaian respondents, who are not willing to move overseas are the inability to bring family members or a life partner with them when they relocate (43 per cent and 50 per cent respectively) and the cost of relocation (39 per cent and 36 per cent respectively),” Banful stated.

Co-managing Director at The Network, Sacha Knorr said, “People don’t associate countries with certain generally attributed advantages and choose them on that basis.

“Instead, they opt for the destination region that most closely matches their criteria for their future job choice. Companies should take advantage of this, as they can score points here with job offers that match talents’ expectations.”