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EU records show that 9,000 Gambian migrants arrived in 2023, while only 600 returned to Banjul. The EU said the migrants had exhausted legal remedies to stay in Europe. Over the past seven years, the migrants have flown from the EU to Gambia on multiple charter flights and scheduled commercial flights.
“We are losing a large number of skilled workers to Europe, including talented and able-bodied men who are supposed to be working in our country. This is also leading to a loss of well-educated brains, either through training abroad or seeking employment opportunities at home,” said Mr Essa Njie, a lecturer at the University of The Gambia (UTG) and currently a PhD candidate in Higher Education at the University of Denver, USA.
Abdoulie Kurang, a lecturer at the Department of Development Studies at the University of The Gambia, also lamented this brain drain, believing it to be a cautionary tale for The Gambia: “…the incumbent political system has failed to deliver on its promises to address poverty, unemployment, corruption and stimulate growth, which has led to a growing frustration among young Gambians. This has triggered a new trend of mass emigration of skilled and educated young Gambians. In other words, the talent needed to stimulate The Gambia’s development.”
Mr Courant, who is also a PhD candidate at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London, said the mass migration of Gambian youth to Europe and the US was a result of the country’s long-standing governance and development deficiencies. He cited the situation in 2011, when civil war in Libya opened the door to people smuggling – Gambia was one of the top five countries with the highest number of citizens crossing the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy.
This migration trend is mainly composed of semi-skilled, unemployed or underemployed youth. Therefore, Mr. Courant believes that social vulnerability caused by poverty and unemployment is often considered to be the driving factor of this trend. In addition, human rights violations during Jammeh’s 22-year rule also prompted a large number of frustrated young people to emigrate abroad. Therefore, seven years after the political transition, similar trends have reappeared, which is not conducive to the current government’s policy to deal with youth migration to Europe.
Mr. Essa Njie also expressed his views: “This is indeed not a good thing for the country because we need young people to stay in the country to contribute to development, but only by creating the right economic environment can they excel, realize their potential, and have the motivation to stay in their country and live a decent life…”
“But if these things are missing due to ineffective leadership and corruption, then we can only expect a massive exodus of young people in search of a better life. Staying in their countries of origin under such circumstances will only encourage them to participate in uprisings, political unrest or street crimes such as theft, banditry or drugs, leading to an increase in crime rates,” Njie explained.
Although remittances account for around 50% of the country’s GDP, the two experts believe that this cannot make up for the thousands of people who have died on the dangerous journey to Europe. Dozens of migrant boats that leave the Gambia’s coast for Europe have never reached their destination, nor have they been found anywhere else. Thousands of human remains line the desert route across the Sahara, but not including those stranded elsewhere in Libya or in other coastal countries along the Red Sea.
“All too often, we tend to focus only on the remittances we receive from our youth overseas, but forget that thousands of them die during this dangerous journey. To what extent have they succeeded in Europe? How many of them have managed to lead productive lives in Europe… or how many have managed to improve their families’ living standards and their economic situation back home? This migration only exacerbates intergenerational poverty in The Gambia, with very few exceptions,” Mr. Essa Njie explained.
In 2016, this phenomenon seemed to come to a temporary end with the birth of the New Gambia (called by locals, but meaning the dawn of democratic governance and development). Mr. Courant said that for the people, the New Gambia was not just a change of regime, but a hope for a prosperous future – democratic governance, growth and social progress.
He blamed poor governance and underdevelopment as long-term drivers of emigration among Gambian youths.
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