Allow African youth into Europe to try their luck

Dawn, Friday June 24, 2022, at the border between Morocco and the Spanish enclave of Melilla in the Maghreb.

About 2,000 African migrants approach a border control area to attempt a mass crossing into Spanish territory. They cut a fence and hundreds swarm inside, thus sparking a violent crackdown by security officials. Twenty-three migrants die, and only about 130 make it into Melilla.

Africans are horrified. They call for the deaths to be investigated, but many of them are left wondering why African youth risk so much for a piece of Europe. Some, sitting in their ivory towers, go as far as condemning them for their “imprudence”!

On a continent where 460 million people live in extreme poverty, it appears that many are completely disconnected from the ugly realities that their compatriots face every single day.

A journey to Europe is not cheap. Those who can afford it are better off than those who cannot. They are often more educated and come from more comfortable communities. On average, the majority enter Europe legally, and end up staying there illegally, but for those who pursue the illegal means, the journey is usually perilous. Many of them face odds which are far worse than Melilla, but they accept them with an indomitable spirit – better the desirable unknown than the undesirable known.

This is exactly what motivated the Europeans to explore distant lands starting in the late 15th century. And immediately after the journeys of explorers such as Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama and Hernan Cortes, Europeans migrated to those lands as settlers, traders, or missionaries. Since then they have remained the world’s ultimate migrants. Today, for example, there are five million Britons outside of Britain.

While North Africa is known today for being a point of exit for African migrants heading to Europe, there was a time when it was known as the point of entrance for European migrants to Africa. Millions of Europeans flocked to the Maghreb, thanks to poverty in Europe. By the time Algeria became independent in 1962, one million Europeans had migrated there.

Thus, there is nothing wrong with people seeking to improve their lots in life by moving to other lands. Europeans have been doing that for centuries, often causing their hosts untold misery. It is unconscionable that they are now erecting walls to keep Africans out of Europe.

I choose to stand with African migrants.

A research by Branko Milanovic suggests that a person’s future income is by far determined by his country of birth and his parents’ income. Migration then becomes the most effective way to improve one’s prospects in life. It is not surprising then that migrants earn significantly higher wages elsewhere by doing the same job they did at home.

Individual benefits aside, there are many good reasons for African nations to encourage their people to go abroad. Many surveys substantiate that policy decision.

The most critical factor, though, is remittances.

In 2021, sub-Saharan Africa recorded $45 billion in monies received from its diaspora. That amount far outstrips what the region received in aid and investments, thus highlighting the importance of remittances as a strategic source of financing. For some countries, remittances make a gigantic portion of their GDPs, such as 35 percent for South Sudan.

The top three nations in sub-Saharan Africa in remittances are Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya with $17.6 billion, $4.5 billion and $3.7 billion, respectively. Tanzania, despite its comparative advantages in population and GDP sizes, doesn’t make the top 10 for it receives a paltry $570 million, less than 1 percent of its GDP. Had Tanzania performed comparable to Kenya, the receipts would have been approaching $2 billion today. Tanzania’s lack of visionary leadership is legendary.

Despite remittances, many intellectuals in Africa are still stuck in old-fashioned ideas such as “brain drain”. As a result, they practically discourage migration, but that is quite unfortunate, for migration comes with many other advantages for nations of origin.

Firstly, migration of highly skilled people multiplies higher learning in the long run. Secondly, migration brings in high skills and capital back home. Thirdly, migration improves entrepreneurship. Companies such as Google, Intel, PayPal, eBay and Yahoo! were all co-founded by immigrants. Finally, migration develops trade links between nations of origin and their hosts.

In 2015, Europe faced a wave of refugees from North Africa. As a result, the EU decided to set up the Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF) to stop unwanted migration from Africa. By 2018, some 5.2 billion euros had been spent but, remarkably, only 10 percent went towards improving economic and employment opportunities!

When it comes to Africa, Europe appears to be wilfully ignorant.

By 2050, 350 million youth will have entered the labour market in Africa. Africa doesn’t have a solid answer for that challenge yet, but in that same time, Europe will be having a highly aging population with a deficit of 50 million workers. This means Africa’s problem is Europe’s solution.

However, the fact that Europeans are willing to use so much force and spend so much money to push Africans away rather than create opportunities for them shows that the Europeans have other ideas.

The problem is definitely not economics. One may go out of their way to say that it is most probably racism.