UNIT X: LISTEN & SPEAK

 

 Script: 

Dr. Philip Emeagwali is an American inventor and scientist originating from Africa. He is going to answer the interviewer's questions about African's brain drain and how to turn it to brain gain.
Interviewer: Do skilled Africans have the moral obligation to remain and work in Africa?

Philip: I believe those with skills should be encouraged and rewarded to stay, work and raise their families in Africa. When that happens, a large middle class will be created. Then, a true revitalisation and renaissance will occur.

Interviewer: Should skilled African emigrants be required to return to Africa?

Philip: I believe controlling emigration will be very difficult. Instead, I recommend the United Nations impose a "brain gain tax" upon those nations benefitting from the "brain drain".

Interviewer: I wonder...Eh...Is "brain drain" a form of modern slavery?

Philip: By the end of 21st century, people will have different sensibilities and will describe it as modern day slavery. In 19th century, which was an Agricultural Age, the US economy needed strong hands to pick cotton, and the young and strong were forced into slavery.

In21st century, which is an Information Age, the US economy needs persons with "extraordinary ability" and the best and brightest are lured with Green Card visas. Africans who are illiterate or HIV-positive are automatically denied American visas.

Interviewer: Do you believe that the "brain drain" can be reversed?

Philip: This is what I concerned with. As I always say, "brain drain" is a complex and multidimensional problem that can be reversed into "brain gain".

India is now reversing its "brain drain", and turning it into "brain gain". I believe Africa can do the same. But unless we reverse it, the dream of African renaissance will remain vague.

Interviewer: Why have you lived in the United States for 30 continuous years?

Philip: Africa has bitten at my soul since I left. My roots are still in Africa. My house is filled with Africana food, paintings, music, and clothes- to remind me of Africa.

I long to visit the motherland, but I must confess that when Africa called me to return home, I couldn't answer that call. The reason is that I work on creating new knowledge that could be used to redesign supercomputers. The most powerful supercomputers cost $120 million each and Nigeria could afford to buy one for me.

Interviewer: Can you tell me what your last word to African governments is?

Philip: Finally, I would like to say that millions of high-tech jobs can be performed from Africa, but may instead be lost to India. We must identify the millions of jobs that will be more prifitable when transferred from the United States to Africa. Doing so will enable us to create a brain drain from the nUnited States and convert it to a brain gain for Africa.

Interviewer: Thank you Dr. Philip for accepting to do this interview.

Philip: My pleasure.

 Vocabulary: 

  revitalize: to give new life, energy, activity or success to something. Noun: revitalization.

  renaissance: a new growth of activity or interest in something, especially art, literature or music.

  sensibilities: feelings.

  lure: persuade someone to do something or go somewhere by offering them something exciting: "She was lured into the job by tghe offer of a high salary." "Supermarket chains try to lure customers with price discounts.

0035.gif  vague: not clear.

0035.gif  bite (simple past: bit; past particple: bitten): affect badly.
0035.gif  Africana: materials (such as books, documents, or artifacts) relating to African history and culture. (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Africana)

0035.gif  long: want something very much.

  confess: admit that you have done something wrong or something that you feel guilty or bad about.

Dr. Philip Emeagwali

Philip Emeagwali is a Nigerian computer scientist. He has been living in the United States for many years. An Igbo,[1] he won the 1989 Gordon Bell Prize ($1,000) for price-performance in high-performance computing applications, in an oil reservoir modeling calculation using a novel mathematical formulation and implementation.

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